Remember that time you did acid in your best friends basement and watched that one circus movie? Yeah, me neither. But if you could remember that experience without slipping just a little closer to madness, this movie would kind of remind you of that. I really can sum up this movie in just two words: drug trip. But nonetheless, it was a truly interesting and captivating movie. Even with the strange creatures and the alternate ...]]>

A modern generation’s version of Labyrinth, now with fewer David Bowie.

Remember that time you did acid in your best friends basement and watched that one circus movie? Yeah, me neither. But if you could remember that experience without slipping just a little closer to madness, this movie would kind of remind you of that. I really can sum up this movie in just two words: drug trip. But nonetheless, it was a truly interesting and captivating movie. Even with the strange creatures and the alternate reality thing, I really found myself being drawn into this flick. I know what you’re thinking: but King, I’ve never even heard of this. That’s because it’s an independent film ya dork. I hadn’t heard of it either before watching it, and it was definitely worth owning (thanks Jessica for expanding my mind just a little more; you know I could use it!) From acclaimed story teller Neil Gaiman and directed by Dave McKean, this story is beyond Hollywood film making and truly becomes a work of extraordinary talent and vision.

Plot

The daughter of a “successful” circus family, Helena, wants nothing more than to lead an ordinary life. She falls asleep in her bedroom full of trippy charcoal drawings and soon finds herself plummeting into a dream world. Helena’s only hope in escaping from this hellish and bizarre reality is to search out and locate a “mirrormask” that no one has ever seen. While traveling in the alternate reality she is able to look through windows into her own bedroom through her drawings on the wall, and can see a version of herself doing terrible things. It becomes all too apparent that she must escape to her own world before it is too late. During her travels, Helena discovers many new friends and enemies, and learns tons of life lessons–including that sometimes want you want most isn’t what you should want. The movie really feels a lot like Alice in Wonderland meets the Labyrinth meets Wizard of Oz.

Visuals

This film is packed full of stunning visuals. Even before entering the dream world, Helena’s bedroom is packed full of strange and sometimes chilling drawings and artwork. Even the city she lives in is stunning in its blandness and lack of color–a complete opposite from the world where she becomes trapped. As for the alternate reality, it’s packed full of color, strange characters, and bizarre architecture. Although the CGI is not the best, after a short time you really don’t even notice it even more. It becomes more of the story than anything else. My favorite visual throughout the entire movie was where Helena would peek through windows and watch herself do terrible things, but no one else could see through the windows as she could. However, the dream world really takes on a drug trip kind of feel, which makes it fairly difficult to watch, and can even be dizzying at times.

Sound

The music is stunning. I found myself humming the main theme for days after watching it, and it’s so perfectly balanced that you don’t notice the music when you aren’t supposed to, and really feel yourself drawn in by its quality and unique sound.

Acting

I really didn’t recognize any of the actors in this movie, but let me tell you, they did a great job. I believed every bit of acting; even the acid trip parts of the movie seemed believable through the acting cast. Although there was a cliche part of the good guy selling out the main character to the evil lady then coming back to save the main character, it was very well performed and fairly believable.

Conclusion

Buy this movie. Yep. Just go do it. Do my bidding. It won’t be very expensive. It’s only an independent film, so there aren’t a shitload of people’s salaries riding on the purchase. It really is worth the twenty bucks for this flick–it’s that kind of good. The only thing I found wrong with this movie and the only reason it does not recieve 5 stars is that it just seems too drug trippy. It almost seemed that the alternate world was overdone just a little, or perhaps that the creators just expected everyone who watched it to be stoned. And in my opinion, that just enough to downgrade it a little. Anyway, even if you don’t buy this movie, I strongly recommend you rent it or borrow it or something. It’s the perfect movie for when you’re feeling a little depressed and need to see someone else’s crazy-ass life. After seeing this movie, our main editor LilPickle exclaimed “it’s good to see I’m not the only crazy person in this world” or something to that effect… I think I was drunk when he said it, so I’m not really sure on his exact wording, but that’s close enough. Anyway…

4 creepy masked critters out of 5