{"id":28079,"date":"2015-02-11T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=28079"},"modified":"2015-02-09T21:49:40","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T08:49:40","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasysci-fi-films-youve-probably-never-heard-of-rebecca-fisher-discusses-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2015\/02\/11\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasysci-fi-films-youve-probably-never-heard-of-rebecca-fisher-discusses-strings\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens & Fantasy\/Sci-Fi Films You\u2019ve Probably Never Heard Of: Rebecca Fisher Discusses \u201cStrings\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m going to describe the premise of Strings<\/strong>, which you’ll recognize as following a very familiar adventure\/fantasy trajectory. An old king commits suicide, only for his devious brother, Nezo,\u00a0 to make it look like an assassination, thereby spurring the young prince (Hal Tara) into a quest to avenge his father’s death. In his absence, the evil uncle (and his hunchbacked henchman) consolidates his power and takes hostage the beautiful young princess (Jhinna).<\/p>\n

But when the prince falls into the company of the rebels framed for his father’s murder, he finds himself falling for their spirited leader, Zita \u2013 though unbeknownst to him, his loyal retainer, Erito, has been told his family’s life is at stake if he doesn’t ensure the prince never returns. Once the truth comes out, it’s down to the prince and the rebels to win back his kingdom, save the princess, and restore balance to the land.<\/p>\n

You’ve heard this story a thousand times before, so what sets Strings<\/strong> apart from the usual fantasy fare?<\/p>\n

\"Strings1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s all performed by marionettes.<\/p>\n

Puppetry usually goes hand-in-hand with comedy, as with The Muppets<\/strong> or Team America<\/strong>, but this is a film that asks to be taken seriously. Directed by Anders R\u00f8nnow Klarlund and with marionettes designed by puppeteer Bernd Ogrodnik, Strings<\/strong> treats its puppets not as a novelty, but a medium through which to tell a story; an art-form as valid as animation or stop-motion.<\/p>\n

But the truly innovative thing about it is that the characters know<\/em> they’re marionettes, which forms the basis of the film’s world-building. An opening shot reveals millions of shining strings descending down from the sky, each one representing an individual’s “head-string”. Nobody knows where the strings originate or who (if anyone) is controlling them, but this self-awareness of the characters is incorporated into every facet of their lives.<\/p>\n

\"Strings2\"<\/a>Erito assists in the birth of his child<\/em><\/p>\n

When a head-string is cut, the individual dies a permanent death. When a child is born, a golden string descends from the heavens and is affixed to the head of a baby that has already been carved by its parents, endowing it with life. If a moveable limb is severed, the individual loses the ability to use it, though (if they’re wealthy enough) they can claim a replacement limb from a collection of slaves who exist for the sole purpose of providing spare parts.<\/p>\n

The practicalities of life as a marionette extend to the world’s culture and architecture. Naughty children “tangle” with each other, forcing their parents to diligently straighten out their strings. Weapons are long metal hooks, designed for reaching above a person’s head and severing the head-string. Prisons and gates are simple horizontal bars or grates \u2013 you don’t need to contain<\/em> a marionette with four walls and a door, just restrict their mobility by positioning their strings within a small opening in a metal grid. And of course, when it rains, all the interiors are flooded \u2013 obviously there are no ceilings.<\/p>\n

These marionettes can also climb, swim, dance and fight \u2013 at times you can tell the puppeteers are pushing the limits of what their tools and imaginations are capable of.<\/p>\n

\"Strings3\"<\/a>Prince Hal and his sister grieve for their father’s death<\/em><\/p>\n

The English dub also boasts a fairly impressive cast, with the voice talents of James McAvoy (Hal Tara), Catherine McCormack (Zita), Derek Jacobi (Nezo), and David Harewood(Erito), as well as Julian Glover, Ian Hart, and Samantha Bond lending emotion and nuance to the otherwise emotionless faces and immovable mouths of the characters. Naturally this part requires some<\/em> suspension of disbelief, and it can take a while to get used to the slow, methodical movements of each character.<\/p>\n

As someone who loved<\/em> the marionette sequence in The Sound of Music<\/strong> (you know, when Julie Andrews and the von Trapp children performed The Lonely Goat Herd<\/em>) I was thrilled to watch a movie whose entire length was devoted to the art of puppetry. It’s certainly a unique film, and it won’t necessarily appeal to all, but if you’re after something that exists well<\/em> outside the mainstream then Strings<\/strong> might just fascinate you for an evening.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time: “Safety Not Guaranteed<\/strong>”
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Darius is a diffident intern at a magazine, wearily trudging through life when her boss calls her attention to a strange wanted ad in the paper. It asks for a time-travel companion, stating: “Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” Intrigued, Darius follows up on the advert and meets an eccentric but seemingly sincere man called Kenneth who insists he’s cracked the secret to time-travel.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Is it for real? That’s the question at the heart of Safety Not Guaranteed<\/strong>.<\/span><\/em>
\n.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her They\u2019re All Fictional<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:<\/p>\n

Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher I’m going to describe the premise of Strings, which you’ll recognize as following a very familiar adventure\/fantasy trajectory. An old king commits suicide, only for his devious brother, Nezo,\u00a0 to make it look like an assassination, thereby spurring the young prince (Hal Tara) into a quest to avenge his father’s death. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-worlds-on-small-screens-with-rebecca-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28079"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28116,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28079\/revisions\/28116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}