Anytime Vincent Gallo is part of an animation, I'm gonna be there. We got turned onto this film as a result of searching for a Cargo 200 OST. I'd never heard of the film and downloaded it on a whim off of the Russian tracker I was mining. Then I made the mistake of watching it that night, at three in the morning. On second thought it wasn't a mistake. Metropia is form-fitted to be watched while everyone else is asleep. Watch it while everyone else is asleep. As always, enjoy.
From Jeanette Catsoulis at the New York Times:
The distinctive voices of Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis emerge from the lead characters in “Metropia” but provide no comfort: Tarik Saleh’s dystopian vision of a depleted, smog-engulfed, financially collapsed Europe in the year 2024 seems a touch too close to home. In any case, the real star here is the film’s eerily unsettling animation, a digitally manipulated photomontage that makes everyone look almost human — in a heavily medicated, genetically suspect kind of way.
The film’s paranoid centerpiece is Roger (wonderfully voiced by Mr. Gallo), a Swedish call-center worker consumed by suspicions. His girlfriend may be cheating, his thoughts may be monitored, and the government-mandated subway system may be part of a sinister international conspiracy. A dandruff-shampoo model and the bellybutton of a Hello Kitty doll will play crucial roles in Roger’s (if not the audience’s) gradual enlightenment; if only the voice in his head would stop telling him what to do.
With nods to Orwell, Kafka and the work of Terry Gilliam (particularly “Brazil”), Mr. Saleh, a former graffiti artist, paints the power of advertising and the omnipotence of multinationals in subterranean hues. Moldy greens and funereal grays coat the screen; saucer-eyed faces float in the blackness of underground rooms and tunnels. Visually and conceptually oppressive, the film is a seamless match of form and content. But that very synchronicity is also its main problem, exerting a near-tyrannical hold on atmosphere and stifling the film’s ability to move.
Technically innovative but narratively moribund, “Metropia” is all stasis and shadows. Perhaps Mr. Saleh could have listened to a lighter voice.
Technical Information:
Title: Metropia
Year: 2009
Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland
Director: Tarik Saleh
Source: BluRay Retail
Video Codec: 1080p-x264
Container: .mkv
Size: 4.64 GB
Length: 1:25:42
Programs used: mkvmerge
Resolution: 1920x1040
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG4 AVC H264 @ ~5794 kb/s
Frame Rate: 24 fps
Audio 1: Russian- Dolby AC3 5.1 @ 448 kb/s
Audio 2: English- Dolby DTS 5.1 @ 1510 kb/s
Subtitles: Russian
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