Attracted mostly by the cover of the film, I continued to enjoy my animation fest and watched Bill Plymptons‘ 2008 film, “Idiots & Angels”. A dark and weird film that tells the story of a nasty and abusive guy named Angel. He begins his days vulgarly throwing his alarm clock out the window and finishes them drinking at the local bar while badgering its regulars. He grunts and groins and and doesn’t really like anything but his miserable life style. Angel wakes up one day only to find he suddenly grew a pair of wings, which he is trying to get rid of in every possible way.

Angels’ character made me feel annoyed and yet attracted. Not such a strange combination. A little like Alex’s character in “The Clockwork Orange“, Angel had a sex appeal that could easily be found in a nasty attitude like this, in my opinion. The bad boy attitude. Maybe its the wild child in me writing, but its a different kind of mojo. It works the other way, you see.  I was curios of what further shenanigans this crazy dude had to offer the world.

Bill Plympton I mostly remember from his short film “Your Face” and the MTV ad “Noodle Ear“. Wow, so far back. In “Idiots & Angels” he portrayed a rough suburban ambiance of a bunch of  strange and vile characters lashing at each other from time to time. Bills’ sketches and unaltered animations reflect on real life so accurately it is highly entertaining. A true artist.

“Idiots & Angels” is followed by an amazing ensemble of artists, when the most obvious one is no other than Tom Waits. His song “Flower’s Grave” gives the plot a gentle break from all the chaos occurring, and an emotional breeze blows over the harshness seen so far. I remembered to feel something different than confusion and anger. It was beautiful.

To shortly conclude my experience watching this film, it was a love/ hate situation, or simply a love to hate situation between the good and the bad. The moral lesson is loud and clear. There is a second chance. People can be redeemed into doing good deeds and be saved. I guess there’s hope left still, eh?