Saw Consuming Spirits, a somewhat grim animated film about three people living in some dreary Appalachian town. It features the usual elements of a cramped, small-town drama: addiction, mental health issues, divorce and infidelity. Everyone in the film is ugly and advertisements play on the radio for "institution-grade" meat products. Yes, this is one of those universes where things kind of comically suck. Despite the grim and confusion start however, the film coheres into a touching, almost comforting story.
The film is very sad. The characters are hopeless, stuck in this town in jobs which they are failing at and in romances that are continuing more out of inertia and faith than out of any affection. The title of the film does a lot of nice work laying the thematic background: "Consuming Spirits" can be read as either ghosts which devour or just plain old drinking beer. These two interpretations are tied together by the legacy of alcoholism that haunts the characters.
The film has the rough, unfinished look of a work print. Some scenes are animated in Southpark-style paper puppets, some are stop-motion miniatures, some are traditional drawings. Adding to this loose, raw feeling is the narration which is provided by the host of a radio gardening show who waxes poetical about vegetables and pests, weeds and deer. At one point he says of deer "A rutting deer may lose the fear of man altogether when unsated. Beware these cloven messengers of the hybrid knowledge. They are the keepers of my crypt!" Believe it or not, this statement makes more sense after you know the full story. It's not just wild set-dressing (I mean it is that, but not just that.)
The film is interesting. It's fairly dismal, reminding me of Phil Mulloy's Cowboys shorts. The animation is off-putting and the subject matter is challenging. The film feels long and it drags a bit here and there, but it wraps together nicely and is much more coherent and cohesive than you'd expect.
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