I'm not a Carpenters fan. it's not that I don't like them; it's just that I don't listen to them. but my lack of prior familiarity with the subject did not diminish the movie-experience.
the structure of this movie is pretty much bizarre. it's made up of a mix between stock footage with voice over and "live action" segments, acted out by Barbie dolls. and of course there's the illegal Carpenters soundtrack...
yet "bizarre" is somehow effective. though some images were a bit over-played (showing boxes of ex-lax; male hands; a woman being beaten by a man), the stock footage (and other real-life footage) was a very effective way of setting the tone of the film, and providing background knowledge about anorexia, and the Carpenters in general. the choice of using Barbies as "actors" has obvious symbolism (female has to be skinny, big-breasted, etc.), yet despite minimal physical movement of the characters themselves, the voice-acting was so good that it worked.
10/10 on the voice-acting. and the sets! the backgrounds had so much detail that it was a shame I was only watching a grainy copy with tiny aspect ratio.
I give the movie overall an 8.5/10 because even though I think it did a wonderful job at accomplishing what it was meant to do (make a societal critique about anorexia and the treatment of women by discussing Karen Carpenter's story), it had some technical issues/concerns (not being able to read titles because the background was the same color; using same footage repeatedly), and I just, personally, don't prefer issues being presented so blatantly.
but still something pretty much everyone should watch.
the structure of this movie is pretty much bizarre. it's made up of a mix between stock footage with voice over and "live action" segments, acted out by Barbie dolls. and of course there's the illegal Carpenters soundtrack...
yet "bizarre" is somehow effective. though some images were a bit over-played (showing boxes of ex-lax; male hands; a woman being beaten by a man), the stock footage (and other real-life footage) was a very effective way of setting the tone of the film, and providing background knowledge about anorexia, and the Carpenters in general. the choice of using Barbies as "actors" has obvious symbolism (female has to be skinny, big-breasted, etc.), yet despite minimal physical movement of the characters themselves, the voice-acting was so good that it worked.
10/10 on the voice-acting. and the sets! the backgrounds had so much detail that it was a shame I was only watching a grainy copy with tiny aspect ratio.
I give the movie overall an 8.5/10 because even though I think it did a wonderful job at accomplishing what it was meant to do (make a societal critique about anorexia and the treatment of women by discussing Karen Carpenter's story), it had some technical issues/concerns (not being able to read titles because the background was the same color; using same footage repeatedly), and I just, personally, don't prefer issues being presented so blatantly.
but still something pretty much everyone should watch.