Black Hole, Son

December 30, 2010 6:40 PM

Someone's made a short film out of Charles Burns' Black Hole. [contains nudity, profanity, mildly annoying interface] (via io9)
posted by Eideteker (12 comments total)

It's strange...I don't think this captures the comic very well, but I like it quite a lot on its own terms. The Nightbreed guys on the couch are a little bland, makeup-wise, but if I were coming at this from the POV of somebody who'd never read the comic, I might find them disturbing in their basic wrongness, I dunno. Otherwise, I think this sets a great mood, and I would totally love to see more films by these people; again, I don't think that its mood is that of the comic, and that might bother me if this were the official film...but as a student project, holy fuck, yes, this is great stuff, keep going, do more.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:02 PM on December 30, 2010

That was 'what the fuck' in all the right ways. I haven't read the book, but now I want to.
posted by empath at 7:12 PM on December 30, 2010

It sets a different tone than the comic, it's relies a little more on shock value, where in my mind the book was always quiet, understated. But the core emptiness, the disconnectedness, the shitty results when all the ugly parts bump together, it's all there. I liked it.

And the tail is just as grotesquely sexy as I would have imagined it.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:16 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I highly doubt this is a student project. The director, Ruper Sanders, is a commercial director who did those Halo 3 commercials (the diorama one and the funeral one [see also the making of]. Kinda fascinating the transition from commercial directing to film direction, or the fluidity between (see Gondry, Michel and the Tron director Joseph Kosinki, whose commercials are incredible.)
posted by jng at 7:17 PM on December 30, 2010

The acting and writing were great, the direction/editing/lighting design, not so much. Less moody lighting and frenetic/trendy editing and I'm there.
posted by Huck500 at 7:18 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, and as for the film, kinda cool, though agreed with kittens, not at all a literal translation of the book's mood/look. But the acting is a lot better than the usual stuff you see in things like this. The deadpan narration is right on. And visually very design-y. Reminded me of Donnie Darko a bit. I liked it.
posted by jng at 7:20 PM on December 30, 2010

Oh, okay -- I kind of presumed it was a student project because it didn't seem likely to me that an established director would be making fan films, but if he's kind of auditioning for the director slot on a Black Hole movie, I can dig it. With the budget to make the film look convincingly '70s and a running time that allows for more subtlety, he gets my vote.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:22 PM on December 30, 2010

Neat. I'd never heard of the comic it was based on, but now want to check it out. Is this where I admit that when I was a kid I always liked the idea of having a girlfriend with a tail? Though I was thinking more like cat tail, not so much pig or salamander tail.
posted by Forktine at 7:38 PM on December 30, 2010

Things like this make me thankful for StreamTransport.
posted by clarknova at 7:58 PM on December 30, 2010

I saw this a week or two ago; it was mildly interesting, but added little to the original (I don't remember the girl eating dog food in the original, but then, in the comic, I don't think it was implied that she was particularly dog-like; her tail being able to grow back reminded me more of a gecko).
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:46 PM on December 30, 2010

Good try, but yeah, there's something really wrong about it in tone.
posted by Artw at 10:52 PM on December 30, 2010

A purple woman with a tail eating a bologna sandwich - still the greatest cover of all time.
posted by benzenedream at 12:59 AM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]