Animated Short Review: Vive La Rose
Bruce Alcock Directs Film For National Film Board of Canada
Sep 4, 2009
Director Bruce Alcock is best known for being one of the founders of Cuppa Coffee Studios, the stop-motion horde that animates Q. Allan Brocka's Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in the World.
Through his Global Mechanic imprint, Alcock has also worked with the National Film Board of Canada on several short animated films. Alcock's latest is "Vive la Rose," which animates the 18th Century folk song performed by legendary Newfoundland fiddler Émile Benoit (1913 - 1992). The piece uses cel animation, CGI and stop-motion to tell a tale of unrequited love, and pays tribute to the hard life on the sea.
Global Mechanic, The National Film Board of Canada Produce Bruce Alcock's "Vive la Rose"
Alcock frames the film by offering a jittery montage of looking towards a Newfoundland coastline, before entering a weathered shack and opening a drawer. The jerky camerawork and and time acceleration attempt to imply some sort of dream sequence but it comes off as nervous.
The act of a drawer opening begins the tune: found objects on one side illustrate the life of a Newfoundland fisherman, while CGI and sketch drawings juxtapose a man fishing or chopping wood while his estranged love warms her hands on a lantern, or plays piano at a high-class party. The drama in both song and short is the narrator's question about whether his love may be dying, and whether he should go see her.
Émile Benoit's performance of the 18th Century French ballad is heartbreakingly beautiful, and a great introduction to this obscure artist. It's a shame that Alcock's visuals don't match the song: the animation's flowing lines and abstract visuals clash with the jittery stop-motion around it, creating too many focal points for the viewer to track. In addition, the hand-written subtitling looks good but is hard to read, a serious drawback for non-Francophones.
Director Alcock may have been trying to do something different, but he unfortunately outsmarted himself. It's those questionable decisions that keep "Vive la Rose" from achieving greatness.
DVD Extras
There are 9 behind-the-scenes featurettes: all jittery, shaky-cam stream-of-consciousness visuals of the crew going through the motions of making the film without any context or discussion. In tandem with the already jittery short, it gets annoying fast.
There are two other Alock shorts included: "At the Quinte Hotel" gives visuals to Canadian poet/boozehound Al Purdy's poem of the same name. Purdy's brilliant verse gives this piece some much-needed structure, and it's the most successful animation on this disc in terms of attractive visuals that illustrate the story.
"Wrong Number Phone Message" does the same to an anonymous caller who mistakenly left a rant on Alcock's voicemail. It's a great idea (haven't you wanted to make a cartoon based on some verbal venom left on your machine?) but the execution isn't there. A more bizarre phone message would have taken this concept over the top.
The Final Analysis
"Vive la Rose" is a piece that needs several viewings before its charms begin to emerge. While Benoit's haunting performance grounds the film, several questionable artistic decisions prevent this piece from really fulfilling its potential.
It gets a 6/10.
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