One of the best things about Seattle is, simply stated, Scarecrow Video. The store is one of the best video stores in the history of the USA, and that’s no exaggeration. In a town that’s movie-crazy, it stands at the center of all that’s cool about the silver screen locally. It is safe to say that no matter what you are looking for, you will find it there (although possibly already rented by someone else :)).

So for me, besides the usual escapist anime and sci-fi, they have an amazing selection of animation and music videos. Being an animation junkie, one of my all-time faves is Bill Plympton. Most may remember him from MTV hand-drawn animation back in the 80’s and early 90s, but he’s still plugging away out there and still as wacked as ever. In the past couple years he’s come out with Santa: The Fascist Years (2008); the four shorts in the Guard Dog series; and one of the MOST recent – Idiots and Angels (still waiting to see this one).

But in visiting Scarecrow to get a specific anime pic, I looked at Bill’s section (there are many DVDs and even a few old VHS titles in there to rent) and in the Animation Show of Shows series, his short ‘Eat‘ (2001) was there (Volume 11), so I got it.

This one – like many Plympton shorts – starts off in one direction, and just when you think you’ve figured out where he’s going, veers off wildly in the complete opposite way and ends up nowhere near your expectations (not a bad thing – but the rubric ‘expect the unexpected’ should be your guide).

A lonely man comes into an empty restaurant, is waved to a table, and then orders for two – when it comes, he begins fantasizing about the other plate taking the form of a fantasy date and acts accordingly.

Meanwhile, another couple comes in the restaurant, takes their seat nearby, the man orders, and then things begin to get weird. Not terribly long after, a family of four comes in and takes another table, and things take another weird turn.

I won’t spoil things for you – it’s hard enough to get people to watch BP movies with me as it is, so I encourage you to seek it out for yourself 🙂 – suffice it to say, the chaos in the last few minutes will be both vaguely familar, yet completely disturbing at the same time.

You aren’t meant to understand his short films – he lets loose in most of them fairly quickly and you are simply along for the ride at that point. But that’s half the fun! And of course the fact that he’s from Portland, OR (like me) and that he hand-draws every frame of every short/movie himself – the last holdout on that for sure – makes him truly one of a kind, even beyond the unique content of his films.

It appears from his site BP now actually has a book out, with the foreword by Terry Gilliam (one of the few people likely close to Plympton’s vision when doing those wacked Python animations long ago). I will definitely have to keep an eye out for when he comes back to the PNW, and show up for my signed copy. 🙂

In the meantime – check out some Plymptoons!

candybowl

In

Tags: '10s, 00's, 80s, 90's, animation, books, freaks, fun!, movies, Portland

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