Hair High

I viewed HIGH HAIR today in Los Angeles -- perhaps three years after it was originally screened. Comments on IMDb said it was a retro 50's style high school story line which drew my attention.

I am a child of such an era having graduated in 1959 (at the cusp of the next decade of the 50's) from high school.

I entered the theater with an invited friend. I was a bit anxious whether my experience would be the same as another person's opinion as we left the screening and talked.

We both had the same movie experience: It took about 20 minutes to get into it and at one moment in time, there was a hook that carried the film into its conclusion and enjoyment. I suppose this is a cult film, but it works well with those who were in high school in the era of the film despite the fact that this was not my own experience.

My enjoyment was the fusion of Japanese anime into contemporary American animation as a borrowed skill with a true technique honed by Bill Plimpton.

He pulled it off without a finger print of evidence that would tie him to such a cinematic crime of imitating Japanese Anime and not his own invention.

It worked. Just fine. Pure fusion.

Hair High is a take-off of retro high school dramas, as a mild-mannered student finds himself being tortured by the top echelon at his new school. The story is little more than a frame for a series of insane set pieces that range from flies having sex to a crazed car battle.

This episodic, gag-first approach keeps one from caring much about the characters or events, but it's pretty consistently funny.

Bill Plympton has a weird sense of humor, but his mix of surreal cleverness and outrageous is always lots of fun. Hair High isn't quite as good as his shorts, but it is thoroughly enjoyable.

This is a bit of a psychedelic rockabilly animated nightmare. Packed with 50s American cool, depicted with 60s European charm. Telling the story Spud, a new kid in high school, it's a familiar and not particularly original story, but Spud is likeable and as he says "he just doesn't know the rules". The rules being that teenagers are obnoxious and if movies have taught us anything, it's American teens are more obnoxious, stupid and self centred than most. It certainly seems that Bill Plympton has made exactly the film he wanted to... a pretty disgusting, dialled up to 11 X-Rated version of The Rugrats do Carrie. His style signposts every inch of this and feels devoid of outside interference, which in itself is pretty cool. For all it's B-Movie cool though, it boasts a pretty decent cast of voice actors. I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like this before.

This story is in the same mode as Rod Serling's original "Twilight Zone," except with much more heart and soul, and less Old Testament style revenge. You learn to love the characters, even the ones you initially think are cruel.

After all the overproduced and overhyped animated films, that promise wonders but give us the same old thing - THIS is the reason we come back to watch animation. I've seen several of Plympton's short films, but they didn't prepare me for the beautiful characters, the simple and clear story, and (most amazingly) the 50's - 60's style teen music.

See it in the theatres AND buy it on DVD when it comes out. Be aware, though; there's some violence and messy stuff that very little kids probably shouldn't see. Kids above age 12 should be able to handle it, though.

Such a great work.One of the best animations that I've ever watched, although the story is very common; popular guy and cheerleader go out together but a "a new kid in school" falls for this popular cheerleader.

Drawings are very expressive you can almost taste the life they are living at the screen. I think this animation deserves more than just congratulations.

The thing about this animation is it makes you wonder and at the same time makes you want to watch over and over again.

If you haven't still watched it you may be missing a lot in my opinion.

Enjoy.