Available now from Cleopatra Entertainment
Two young artists in a destructive relationship live through the 70s hippie era and find themselves through it all.
Written and directed by María Trénor, Rock Bottom is inspired by the life and music of Robert Wyatt and shows his (potential) life in the 1970s through the character of Bob, an artist, who falls for Alif, another artist, and live their life of drugs, sex, and music. The film is a very peculiar type of film in that it is trippy and floats through different stages of life and love while giving the viewer a (mostly) unique experience. Is it well written and well directed? Mostly. It is interesting? Mostly. Here is the thing though, for those who love this type of storytelling, it should be a magnificent, transcendent (at least sort of) experience. For those not particularly into these things or into the works of Robert Wyatt, this may be a film that will leave them cold, which is kind of an issue. Maybe? The way the story is told and the story itself is not something that scream “general audiences” or even “base audiences”, it something meant for those looking for an experience more than a straightforward film.
A big reason for that is the animation style used here. The style of animation is somewhere between an animated film and a watercolor painting. There is a softness to the designs and the movements while mostly human are definitely animated. There is a lot of style here and most of it is trippy and pretty to look at. If anything, the style becomes a bit style-over-substance at times. While there is a story here and characters developing in front of our eyes, the style of the film’s animation sometimes takes over and the viewer gets taken by it and forgets to pay attention to what is actually happening to the characters. Film festivals in the late 1990s would have eaten this film up and adored it.
Overall this film will work better for fans of the music and/or the animation style. It’s a pretty film to look at and it’s entertaining enough for one watch, but to rewatch it over and over takes an interest that is more than just in passing. The film is well made, well animated, with a good soundtrack, but it is of limited interest for the most part. This new release of it by Cleopatra Entertainment looks and sounds as good as the DVD release will allow it to. The film has been nominated for a slew of animation awards and won a few, so it has its audience, but this viewer may not be the right audience for it.