It is well known that traveling has become rather difficult in times of the corona pandemic. If you do not have the luxury of your own balcony or garden to enjoy at least a fresh view, all you have to do is to turn around the block again and again and dream of distant countries. Or you look at yourself Archipelago at. The animation film takes the audience to Canada, more precisely the area around Québec, the home of the director and author Felix Dufour-Laperriere (New Town). However, this is not another travel document like the one that has appeared in abundance in Germany in recent years, for example Better world than never or Greetings! in the past year.
Instead it is Archipelago rather, a sensual-philosophical journey that is not so much attached to the real world. There are already recordings from this. The Canadian combines them with a variety of stylistic, animated elements. For example, the outline of a drawn woman becomes the frame within which the landscape is shown. In other places, stylized animals run against dark backgrounds. Then again there are scenes in which the film says goodbye to everything visually concrete and allows the most varied of colors and shapes to flow into one another.
Meditative-fascinating stream of consciousness
But Dufour-Laperrière also prefers it less specifically in terms of content. More precisely, the film consists of a kind of dialogue between a man and a woman, both unnamed, which broach the most varied of topics. They can be related to Canada, for example to the history of the country and the people who live there. Sometimes the thoughts wander, dealing with universal questions about location and existence, memories also play a larger role. Archipelago then resembles a stream of consciousness that the filmmaker and the two speakers indulge in, inviting the audience to follow it.
It goes without saying that this is less intended for a larger audience. The 70-minute long animated film at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021World premiere, is aimed at viewers who are keen to experiment and enjoy pondering. Provides specific answers Archipelago practically none. Now and then you can’t even be sure what the question was. Nevertheless, the work is fascinating, between meditative and hypnotic, underlaid with synth sounds and acoustic memories of the world outside, which is still there, even if we do not reach it, perhaps cannot reach it.
–
Credits
OT: “Archipelago” Land: Canada Year: 2021 Director: Felix Dufour-Laperriere Script: Felix Dufour-Laperriere Music: Stéphane Lafleur, Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux
–
Buy / Stream
These links are so-called affiliate links. If you buy via this link, we will receive a commission without incurring additional costs for you. In this way you can support our side.