Sunday, October 18, 2009

Tales of the Black Freighter

(2009) ****

Moments after his ship has been destroyed by a menacing black freighter, a sea captain finds himself adrift in the ocean, motivated to remain alive only to try to reach his home and protect his family from the same evil ship. His quest to stay alive and return home is savage, dangerous, and gruesome, but not as gruesome as what he finds when he eventually reaches his native shore.

I enjoyed this animated short and thought it remained true to its Watchmen roots, the visuals and voiceover emphasizing certain themes relevant to the primary Watchmen story. If one is unfamiliar with the original story embedded in Watchmen, I think the horror and shock reaction would be heightened. Contrary to my usual habit I sat transfixed through the end credits as Nina Simone sang "Pirate Jenny," a perfect choice. Watching Tales of the Black Freighter made me want to see Watchmen again (and I still haven't caught the director's cut, shame on me), but I guess I have to wait until November!

4 comments:

AC said...

and yes, i chose this moment to post so i wouldn't have to keep seeing that nasty "stacy" picture!

Catfreeek said...

Sorry AC but a zombie girl's gotta eat you know :)

DKC said...

Thank you, AC!

Octopunk said...

I read that as "a zombie girl's gotta eat you."

I also thought this short was true to its roots while it added more stuff, which isn't easy.

Malevolent

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