Vera VanGuard / United States / 1h00
Synopsis
Tom lost his girlfriend BB to a tragic accident. While he's writing death metal love songs by her grave, space aliens invade Earth and turn the dead into zombie killers! Tom exhumes BB to save her corpse and finds refuge in the house of his friend Izzy.
« Apocalypse Love » is our 1st-Edition’s exception: we selected it to reclassify it in a category different from the submitted ones, to maximize its chances… Because we completely believe in this movie!
Let’s say it straight away: it is sidesplitting. The dialogues are the great strength of this flick, skilfully mixing sarcasm, clichés and absurd. In an instant, each character is clear, understandable and endearing, and every scene turns out to be funny and dynamic. The scenario’s general writing is good— and when the story allows itself certain tricks (a justification for the apocalypse in the middle of the film and another one at the end, some coincidences making us meet again with characters or elements in improbable places…) or certain obviousnesses (the foreseeable ending), it is always serving the entertainment, with a teasing detachment that’s absolutely not detrimental to the audience’s involvement; it even adds spice. We just think Tom’s change is a bit sudden halfway (on the occasion of one single action scene, the character completely modifies, let’s say, one of his priorities).
As for the acting, the voices are like the text: hilarious. Oh, we forgot to mention it… all the characters are played by dolls, manually animated! This adds again a few inherent jokes, for example a traditional tragic « Nooo! » but fun because of the literally shaken character and his physically immutable smile. By the way, the playful and creative directing will make you forget the hands’ presence on-screen within ten minutes.
A few brief digital special effects, nice practical effects (and beautiful stuffed puppets), and an active directing that knows how to have fun with framings and codes and at the same time remaining accessible for viewers who wouldn’t be used to the genre. The editing is constantly energetic, except in the very last scene where it may drag on a little. Music includes several rock, metal or electro songs, which superbly contributes to the film’s atmosphere. In short, the humble and inventive technique is well-handled and perfectly fits with the story.
Conclusion
A lot of action and a lot of humour, for a lovely and surprisingly-family film that’ll appeal to as many people as possible.
S.I.
« Apocalypse Love » joins official selection for the Little Croco Festival’s first edition, nominated in the Adventure category.
Trailer:
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