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Paperhouse
Fantasy/ English / 1988
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Came up in Bestsimilar.com search results when I entered Ink. Never heard of it.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
It is immediately apparent to me, after watching The Trial and The Discreet Charm how much an actual soundtrack elevates my viewing experience.
I was immediately engaged by this movie's broody whimsical score and I was carried from beginning to end by an appreciably brisk plot, which is always a plus in my book.
Paperhouse doesn't waste any time setting up the central conceit of the movie: A schoolgirl doodles a house in class and shortly after succumbs to a series of fainting episodes attributed to "glandular fever". When she sleeps or falls unconscious she wakes up in the world of her Paperhouse and discovering this she begins drawing new things to introduce into the world including a sad boy at the window who we discover to be an analog to a real boy named Mark we never see.
Despite an off line about not playing with boys, Anna begins an in-dream relationship with Mark and as her health and relationship with her parents deteriorates, Anna experiments with adding different things to the drawing including her dad, but upset with how the drawing is turning out she scribbles out their faces and crumples it up to disastrous consequences.
Mark's real world equivalent is revealed to suddenly be dying of a chest infection and Anna's dream father is turned into a blind malevolent force which she struggles to awaken from.
This culminates in her dream father destroying their means of escape and beating her chest in what is predictably revealed to be life-saving chest compressions.
At this point we hit a crossroads where Anna is distanced from her now-introduced real world father while Mark is believed to be dying, kept alive only by what Anna can draw for him.
It's not a happy ending that comes next, but I will admit that this movie started getting to me near the end. I was fondly reminded of King of Thorn, which I would love to see more stories done in the style of.
And having said that, I literally just learned that King of Thorn got an MOVIE! Holy shit, I had no idea, I gotta see that.
Anyway, I thought this was a really solid movie. Anna is presented as pretty bratty at the start of the movie, which is somewhat acceptable considering her age and it makes sense that a kid who wants to go outside and play doesn't want to admit they're sick. The shitty attitude doesn't carry throughout the entire movie thankfully.
That said, Anna's actress is not exactly stellar. She does a passable job, but she really doesn't emote enough in my opinion. I think I'd say that's probably my biggest complaint, if she had turned in a really good performance that would definitely have raised this movie just a little bit more.
It's never explained why drawing Mark standing doesn't allow him to walk, we never see what she does draw that allows him to walk.
Honestly, there's not a whole lot else to criticize. I think Mom's a bit of a **** for smoking in the car with her kid and littering out the window, but this is also an 80s movie and I'm kinda nitpicking at that point.
In terms of whether this movie hit the style I was looking for: Sort of?
Dreams in and of themselves are functionally throwaway plots in movies like The Discreet Charm where they don't impact the real world or have to share logic with it. But the dreams in this movie reflect the events of the real world and even influence it in small ways.
I feel like the main difference is that the events at the Paperhouse are just direct Stranger Than Fiction-style fantasy consequences of choices made in the real world, which isn't quite the level of visual metaphor I'm looking for.
Even Ink plays with dreams, but things like the clock rumbling on the wall aren't simply an earthquake happening in real life, it's symbolic of the time John has remaining to before he either attends the big meeting or saves his daughter. I want stuff like that.
Final Verdict: [Great]
Paperhouse
Fantasy/ English / 1988
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Came up in Bestsimilar.com search results when I entered Ink. Never heard of it.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
It is immediately apparent to me, after watching The Trial and The Discreet Charm how much an actual soundtrack elevates my viewing experience.
I was immediately engaged by this movie's broody whimsical score and I was carried from beginning to end by an appreciably brisk plot, which is always a plus in my book.
Paperhouse doesn't waste any time setting up the central conceit of the movie: A schoolgirl doodles a house in class and shortly after succumbs to a series of fainting episodes attributed to "glandular fever". When she sleeps or falls unconscious she wakes up in the world of her Paperhouse and discovering this she begins drawing new things to introduce into the world including a sad boy at the window who we discover to be an analog to a real boy named Mark we never see.
Despite an off line about not playing with boys, Anna begins an in-dream relationship with Mark and as her health and relationship with her parents deteriorates, Anna experiments with adding different things to the drawing including her dad, but upset with how the drawing is turning out she scribbles out their faces and crumples it up to disastrous consequences.
Mark's real world equivalent is revealed to suddenly be dying of a chest infection and Anna's dream father is turned into a blind malevolent force which she struggles to awaken from.
This culminates in her dream father destroying their means of escape and beating her chest in what is predictably revealed to be life-saving chest compressions.
At this point we hit a crossroads where Anna is distanced from her now-introduced real world father while Mark is believed to be dying, kept alive only by what Anna can draw for him.
It's not a happy ending that comes next, but I will admit that this movie started getting to me near the end. I was fondly reminded of King of Thorn, which I would love to see more stories done in the style of.
And having said that, I literally just learned that King of Thorn got an MOVIE! Holy shit, I had no idea, I gotta see that.
Anyway, I thought this was a really solid movie. Anna is presented as pretty bratty at the start of the movie, which is somewhat acceptable considering her age and it makes sense that a kid who wants to go outside and play doesn't want to admit they're sick. The shitty attitude doesn't carry throughout the entire movie thankfully.
That said, Anna's actress is not exactly stellar. She does a passable job, but she really doesn't emote enough in my opinion. I think I'd say that's probably my biggest complaint, if she had turned in a really good performance that would definitely have raised this movie just a little bit more.
It's never explained why drawing Mark standing doesn't allow him to walk, we never see what she does draw that allows him to walk.
Honestly, there's not a whole lot else to criticize. I think Mom's a bit of a **** for smoking in the car with her kid and littering out the window, but this is also an 80s movie and I'm kinda nitpicking at that point.
In terms of whether this movie hit the style I was looking for: Sort of?
Dreams in and of themselves are functionally throwaway plots in movies like The Discreet Charm where they don't impact the real world or have to share logic with it. But the dreams in this movie reflect the events of the real world and even influence it in small ways.
I feel like the main difference is that the events at the Paperhouse are just direct Stranger Than Fiction-style fantasy consequences of choices made in the real world, which isn't quite the level of visual metaphor I'm looking for.
Even Ink plays with dreams, but things like the clock rumbling on the wall aren't simply an earthquake happening in real life, it's symbolic of the time John has remaining to before he either attends the big meeting or saves his daughter. I want stuff like that.
Final Verdict: [Great]