'Spike and Mike' Do It Again

Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation

at the Coolidge Corner Theater

including "The Wrong Trousers," "Bob's

Birthday" and "The Janitor"

Saturday, April 29 May 5 at 7:30, 9:30, 11;:30 pm

Sunday April 30, May 7 at 2:30, 7:30 pm

The only down-side to "Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation" is that one leaves wishing that life itself were this hilarious and absurd, not to mention this seamlessly constructed, this Iyrical or simply this kaleidosopically varied.

If only one could consistently re-enter an interrupted dream (complete with dream date) despite a falling green toilet, persistent household pet and ringing alarm clock as "Sleepy Guy" does.

If only all triangulation's were as sensually beautiful and rhythmically entrancing as those within "Triangle."

If only all surprise parties could go as perfectly wrong as "Bob's Birthday."

The pleasure in the Festival lies in its variety. Thought some pieces are enormously successful and others only passingly amusing, the constantly changing medium, country of origin and sense of humor of each of the shorts keeps the momentum going between especially strong pieces.

"The Dirdy Birdy" will partially quell Sick and Twisted fans, craving for the excellently disgusting displays only possible on celluloid gels. This birdy really is very very naughty, mooning his tree-dwelling cat-friend over and over and over again.

The German short, "Passage," (the above, of course, being an American creation) moves poetically through an alternately icy, snowy and watery landscape. Two black figures wordlessly negotiate the terrian with inky fluidity and cryptic relatedness. Their quest, timeless in its way as the dirdy birdy's endless mooning, communicates itself perfectly through the spare ink and paper rendtion.

The beautiful French film, "The Monk and the Fish," (an Oscar nominee) creates a luminous monastery and aquaduct out of watercolors--and a fish-obsessed Monk to go along with it. The musical bouncing of the thoroughly rotund monk and the similarly entrancing splashing of the elusive little fish create a visual dance. That the monk is nearly mad with the chase only adds to the enjoyment.

Despite the aesthetic pleasure (and sick glee) to be enjoyed from the above short's the best films of the bunch are also the funniest. "The Janitor," an Oscar nominee by Canadian Vanessa Schwartz, uses mellow vernacular and quirky sketches of a naked old man's body to bring a janitor of the universe to life. Lines describing the moon as a "sure" nub dustcatcher" don't hurt either.

The funniest shorts of all belong to the English. Both "The Wrong Trousers" (a one-time Oscar winner) and "Bob's Birthday" (this year's winner) owe much of their irresistability to their particular brand of British humor. These two films are well-known among those in The animated know and for good reason.

"The Wrong Trousers" is a half hour long claymation extravaganza. It features an adorable dog named Gromit, his demanding (but ultimately loving) owner Wallace, a pair of Techno-trousers gone astray and an evil penguin with a penchant for diamonds and chicken disguises. The outrageous plot and strikingly compelling characters, along with what any animator will attest to be virtuoso (and visually exciting) motion make "Trousers" much more right than wrong.

"Bob's Birthday," though just as loved and well-known, unfolds in the more real, though admittedly grotesque world of a work-a-day dentist (the eponymous Bob) who lusts after his butt-scratching, pesticide spraying assistant and helps ruin (if inadvertantly) his own party. Bob's penchant for poetry, pastels and pathetic pronouncements--"Hardly anyone flosses anymore, what's the points?--keeps his "Birthday" very much unlike any kind of morality play on again and marriage, which instead it chooses to spoof.

"The Big Story" (another Oscar nominee) takes on the astoundingly eccentric task of portraying multiple Kirk Douglasses in multiple roles with multiple jutting chins. For two minutes (its entire length) the short is a welcome piece of absurdity. "Triangle" is a sexy piece of modern dance done in water-color and finger paint. Lithe bodies swirl across the screen in a semi-psychedelic fantasy which looks a lot like love-making done to the fierce beat of drums.

Regrettably, some of the American pieces are the weakest of the lot. Relying on a filmsy premise and marred by silly synthesized pseudo-rap, "Mrs. Matisse" tries to recount Henri's beleaguered wife's tale of woe but ends up sounding silly. "Opposing Views," featuring chicken and egg talk-show guests seems a waste of all the work which undoubtedly went into it. With so much time to spend thinking about it, getting beyond the first joke shouldn't be so hard for an animator.

Still, "Spike and Mike's" remains a terrific annual affair, bringing creative, original work to crowds that love them. Oh yeah, you also get in for free if you bring your refrigerator decorated with the Spike and Mike flyer to the show.