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Capsue review: ‘The Toe Tactic’
Like a druggy dream that turns to gibberish when exposed to daylight, Emily Hubley’s “The Toe Tactic” comes with flashes of inspiration but, though it’s clearly a deeply felt personal film, doesn’t quite translate to outsiders. A strange mix of drawn animation and live action (Hubley, who contributed to “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” is well known in the animation world), the film constructs its own mythology using a group of cartoon dogs who serve as both Greek chorus and (by manipulating live-action objects and people) deus ex machina. Hubley has recruited talent from all corners (from Yo La Tengo to Eli Wallach) for her story about a young woman searching for human connections and dealing with her father’s death, and the result can be compelling for those willing to seek out its weird wavelength.
7 p.m. Tuesday, 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Paramount
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By Sharon Zeugin
March 12, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
This film moved me deeply and inspired me greatly. I liked the departure from a linear narrative in the way Ms. Hubley presented her story. Watching it was like learning a different language—or remembering one which we all understood as children, one which requires a willingess to suspend assumptions based on “rational” thinking, and replace it with metaphor, and synchronicty. The animation part was beautifully integrated, and added a rich and whacky humorous layer to a deeply felt and sensitive film.
Upon viewing the film, my husband’s comment was : “This is a chick-flick.” I agree that it is feminine in it’s recursive, non-linear and layered narrative style. However, a label of “chick-flick” seems to diminish the powerful genderless universal message that the film conveys: life is nuances and feelings, chance meetings and discoveries, unlived grief and connections.
I admire Emily Hubley’s willingness to take creative risks in inviting her audience for a surprising and touching adventure.
By Jim Blakeslee
March 10, 2008 7:30 PM | Link to this
a weird wavelength, or just one that is over the reviewer’s head?