Mirrormask

[mneme]

If you have time today, do see this. It's very good -- a beautiful quasi-animated fantasy story combining modern drama and dream logic. And Dave McKean's art takes on entirely new and interesting qualities when animated, becoming more interestingly horrific and more beautiful.

But the theatres have -no- idea what they have. Based on the previews (only one of which was the least bit appropriate, that being Pride and Prejudice), they seem to think this is a teen romance or family drama, whereas in fact they have a Labrynth-like (but darker, and with art instead of song) fantasy movie in their hands. So just in case they completely mishandle it, see it in the big theatres before it's -gone-.

Comments

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Around here, it's not in the big theaters yet. So far, in the entire Balto-Washingtonia, we found one theater (an arts one, at that) that opened it. I know at least one more theater will start next week.

I didn't find it at all "modern drama", though. To my eye, it was a very, very classically archetypal story (with a thin modern shell).

But yes, the art...

[mneme]

You are correct -- "drama" isn't really appropriate, but given how much the teen angst is woven in with the fantasy, I wasn't sure what was. Maybe just that -- "teen angst"?

[uilos.livejournal.com]

We got trailers for Doom, Aeon Flux, and Narnia. I think the theater in DC where it showed has a pretty good idea what it has its hands on.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Oops. I just mentioned all the trailers I saw in front of Serenity. This is what I get for seeing two movies in a weekend.

What we got in front of Mirrormask were a bunch of trailers for international and art films that the theater would be playing in the next few weeks.

[mneme]

More or less what we got, with the caveat that I was utterly uninterested in any of the international and art films, except the Austin.

[kyrielle]

Due to the limited opening, that's a bit hard for some of us, yannow. I envy you being in an area they decided to grace with it this week.

Two weeks 'til I can see MirrorMask, at one of the most inconvenient theaters in the area but at least it's in my state.... :P I have a friend who wants to see it, and nowhere on the site do they at any time have it scheduled to play in her state.

Given the limited release, you might want to link people to the MirrorMask page itself which lists the theaters that are getting it, and when. Considering that finding it is ridiculously hard.

[mneme]

Good point.

My primary aim, fwiw, was to try to (in my small way) increase the population of Mirrormask at the tiny art theatres they have it in now -- because maybe if they get good numbers, they'll actually -give- it a real release, as it deserves, letting many more people see it.

[kyrielle]

*grins* Which I understood and is a good idea, it could just be frustrating to people if they look for it and can't find it. And they might not go next week or the week after if it does show up in their area, not realizing there's a resource to find out when (or if) Sony will deign to share it with them.

[bigbrotherinlaw.livejournal.com]

The only theater it's scheduled to be shown at in Hartford happens to be one of my favorite theaters. It should get four showings (one per night starting Wed 10/26).

[mneme]

Coolness.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Big theaters?

It's playing at ONE theater in the NY area. It's not real convenient to get to for most people.

[mneme]

Well, yeah -- I meant "the big screen", not "the big theatres", sorry.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I just saw "Mirrormask" with friends in Austin.

It's very Neil Gaiman. Odd and beautiful and psychologically very astute, but it's not the kind of story that engages my emotions very much. I admire it, but I can't say I liked it. Or that I disliked it, for that matter.

[mneme]

I did like it, but yeah, Gaiman doesn't go to great pains to pull on the emotional heart-strings; instead, he tries to play other insturments, I think.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

<metaphor>From what I've read of Gaiman, more flutes than strings</metaphor>

Haven't seen it yet, but definitley planning to.

[plowne.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to see this for a while!

do you know Where it's playing and when?

[mneme]

Yup! The theatre listings are a link from here:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/mirrormask/

In NYC, it's at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre, at 143 Houston Street.

[avram]

Why do you think the trailers they showed have anything to do with the movie?

That was a Landmark Cinema, one of a chain of small art cinemas. All of the movies they showed trailers for are movies that'll be showing at the Landmark in upcoming weeks or months. Didn't you see the posters in the lobby? Few if any of those movies will get any television advertising, or have trailers shown in the big chains, so this is the main advertising they'll get.

[mneme]

True enough.

OTOH, the previews underline the ways in which Mirrormask (and its audience) doesn't really fit within the confines of the usual "art movie".

[avram]

Eh. Small, distrubution art cinemas show all sorts of things. Back when I made a habit of going to animation shows, they'd show at art cinemas. Still do. A lot of anime gets shown at art cinemas -- Steamboy and Howl's Moving Castle at that very same Landmark Cinema, Princess Mononoke at the Angelika -- and the fan overlap for anime and Gaiman/McKean is likely substantial.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

More to the point, as you said at Games Club, advertising films shown in other theaters is advertising for the competition.

There were no trailers for anime here. Those would have interested me more than most of the trailers we saw.