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herohat


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Rare access to legandary underground animator and a missed opportunity , 17 March 2009

Monster Road on DVD (2004)
Starring: George Bickford, Bruce Bickford
Director: Brett Ingram
Certificate:
The problem with this documentary peek into the life of cult underground animator Bruce Bickford is that Bickford is just not as exciting as his work.Bickford became known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 70's but that's hardly touched on here.Infact,although we see lots of footage of Bickford animating we don't get to see any lengthy clips of his best work.Bickford's animation just doesn't work in tiny clips-it looks rough and clumsy-it needs to be shown complete so it flows and we can sink into the mood of it.
There are lots of clips of Bickfords very first films,shot at home,which are cool to see but then there is a huge gap-it just jumps to his new stuff.Unfortunately,his new stuff is just not as exciting.Where is all the really interesting(drug-inspired) stuff from the late 60s and 70s?.
Instead,most of the film is of Bickford wandering around with his father and reminising about his abusive childhood-important to his development as an artist maybe,but this could have been dealt with quickly at the begining of the film,allowing space for more of his work.It doesn't help that the films subject is pretty much a recluse..there's only so much of Bickfords little studio that you can see before you begin to get claustrophobic.
As a long time fan of Bickfords work,this was a dissapointing film for me.So much of the story missing!.If you already love Bickfords work it's much better to track down his films on dvd and watch them complete as they are meant to be seen.Bickford can't really add anything to these masterpieces by talking about the process of animation.
I don't think this film will encourage anyone unfamilar to his work to see more of his stuff.Here he comes across as a dotty old amatuer playing with plasticine in his basement and that couldn't be further from the truth.
Bickford is a genius and this film doesn't do him justice. 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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