IR Film Review: STOPMOTION [IFC Films/Shudder]

"Stopmotion" wants to exist in Lynchian world where all paths lead to either realization of ruin. The context of the journey follows a young woman who seems to searchng for something but comes to conflict with something she can't control. The beginning is wrapped in an idea of an overbearing mother who seems to exert a sense of intent with her daughter to make a animated stopmotion film which seems to fuel her psychosis. The reasoning behind this is not necessarily clear. Aisling Franciosi plays Ella, the daughter in question. As circumstances change, she is motivated to go out on her own. Her would-be boyfriend/companion tries to help but she keeps coming back to the idea of finishing her mother's film despite needing to move on. The impetus of the obsession seems something ingrained but the actual mythology is not necessarily explained.

Ella's walls of reality seem to bleed together motivated by a young kid, who seems to be a next door neighbor. However this young girl might be or might not be a figment of her imagination. This supposed devil on her shoulder pushes her to use different aspects to build her puppets that make them more degenerate and sinister as they go on from discarded bones to a fox carcass and beyond. The obsession grows but also the darkness of her visions increases. The film mixes the essence of stopmotion animation using it to mirror Ella's life inside one room (or in this case, a box that acts as her cage). This is done admirably considerng the budget was likely limited. Ella is trying to figure out what these visions are but is also inexplicably drawn to them despite the harm it might be doing. As a result, she becomes increasingly anti-social.

Franciosi plays Ella with a innocence that soon morphs into dread. Her character completely believes in what she is supposed to be doing even as it starts to crumble around her. The build of what is happening is also reflected in a character figure that she is building which is in essence the demon that has been tormenting her all her life...and likely her mother as well. The movie reaches a crescendo and then almost enters a Kubrick-like state where the metaphor of what she is experiencing inside her animation becomes, in essence, her coffin. It is an interesting strain of story, more a character piece wrapped in a horror film aimed mostly at the breakdown of identity. B-

By Tim Wassberg