In association with the Oberlin Film Series, the much loved claymation films of Wallace and Gromit will be screened this Saturday.
In these short films, there is a perfect mix between the “modern life style,” as Wallace puts it, and the old fashioned bed and breakfast style (with English tea and cross-stitching). However, it is the duo’s never-failing wittiness that gives these films personality. The attention to detail in the films really allows the viewer to see into the character’s identities. Gromit’s fascination with literature becomes evident as he reads Plato’s Republic at the breakfast table and later when he is imprisoned unjustly and picks up a copy of Crime and Punishment.
In claymation, the animator pays strict attention to everyday human movement and expression in order to reproduce it in clay, frame by frame. It is this minutia that creates an entirely unified approach to the subject throughout the film.
The shorts showing this weekend are The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, which consist of all the ingredients of a good thriller, and A Grand Day Out, a delightful adventurous tale.
In A Close Shave, Wallace & Gromit make like Batman and Robin as the telephone rings and Wallace is transported via one of his quirky inventions down to the basement where his motorcycle is waiting. Unluckily, Wallace falls in love with the wrong woman, and, through a series of events, both his life and Gromit’s are put in danger.
The Wrong Trousers is the second in the Wallace and Gromit trilogy from Aardman Animations. The film introduces a mysterious penguin and a pair of automated Techno-Trousers. On a beautiful day, the seemingly harmless penguin moves in at Wallace and Gromit’s bed and breakfast. Wallace, who immediately grows attached to the penguin, decides that Gromit must stay in his old doghouse while the beloved penguin stays in Gromit’s room.
Everything isn’t okay, though, and the plot thickens. One rainy night, Gromit has had enough and decides to leave home, but soon he must come to Wallace’s rescue and ends up standing face to face with the evil penguin, the quietly unsettling perfect villain in the plot.
These loveable shorts are cinematic gems that you won’t want to miss.