Monday, May 8, 2017

My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016)

Jack and I didn't love but definitely didn't hate this crazy animated feature about a sophomore who learns that his coastal California school may float away in a major earthquake. With a potpourri of animation styles and a great cast of voices, it will appeal to many.

Jason Schwartzman (last blogged for The Overnight) stars as Dash, Reggie Watts (covered in Creative Control) is Dash's best friend Assaf, Maya Rudolph (last in Maggie's Plan) is their friend Verti, Lena Dunham (blogged most recently for Don't Think Twice and This Is 40) is popular girl Mary, Susan Sarandon (last in these pages for her 1974 appearance in The Front Page) is Lunch Lady Lorraine, Alex Karpovsky (a regular on Dunham's series Girls, he was in Sleepwalk with Me) is stoner Drake, and John Cameron Mitchell (his best known acting gig is the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) which he directed and adapted from his stage musical, but he also had a recent series arc in Girls, not to mention lots of New York theatre work) makes an appearance in the third act as Brent Daniels.

This is the feature debut, after one short, of director/writer Dash Shaw, who worked in the art department of Mitchell's Rabbit Hole. It was first conceived as a short graphic novel.

Rani Sharone, who composed some additional music for Rock the Kasbah, provides a fun soundtrack that can be streamed in its entirety on spotify (here's a link).

We saw it on vacation a couple of days ago but it's playing locally. Rotten Tomatoes' critics like it a lot, averaging 88%, while its audiences are more lukewarm at 54. If this sounds good to you, better snap it up before it closes because it's not on my DVD release site.

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