OKLAHOMA CITY — With this year’s summer blockbuster season looking a bit anemic, you might wonder where all the wonder went. Instead of a bunch of crowd-pleasers, the summer slate is just a handful of head-scratching remakes and confusing summer horror entries padding out the release calendar.
The summer cinema season should be when we duck into movie houses to escape the heat and get whisked away into the most elaborate, fantastical new worlds and adventures, a time when studios and filmmakers should be dropping their most creative, awe-inspiring, and box office-bursting fare.
This year, that’s mostly not looking like the case, unless there’s just a way bigger cultural hunger for a random remake of “The Crow” than anyone realizes.
Fortunately, one filmic avenue practically always leads to the most transcendent and transformative moviegoing experience: animation.
Though the malls and megaplexes are only slated to see one potentially powerful piece of animated magic this month, the city’s local theaters have us covered with some emotional, adventurous, and even legendarily crass and creative animated offerings all month long.
Don Hertzfeldt’s ‘ME’ & ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day’ – Rodeo Cinema Stockyards – June 8th
Indie animator Don Hertzfeldt has developed such a rabid, dedicated cult following that it’s difficult to think of another singular cinematic cartoonist on his level of acclaim, and the fact that he’s achieved all of it primarily with stick figure-centric shorts is especially impressive.
Though intentionally and endearingly crude, Hertzfeldt’s animation twists the childlike, immature stick drawings into surrealism, dark comedy, and genuinely, shockingly powerful emotion, often culminating in a piece of work so fantastically astute about the human condition that you can mostly forget it’s all just stick figures.
Rodeo Cinema in the Stockyards will be hosting a Hertzfeldt double feature with his newest offering, the 22-minute “ME” paired with one of his most celebrated and heartfelt projects, “It’s Such a Beautiful Day,” combining the three parts of a trilogy of shorts into a single hour-long film.
It would be a major challenge to try to explain or describe something like a plot in most of Hertzfeldt’s work, so suffice to say that catching this double feature will simply sweep you into a hand-drawn world both surprisingly human and excitingly new.
For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit rodeocinema.org.
‘Inside Out 2’ – Everywhere – June 14th
There aren’t many studios – animation or otherwise – that can boast the kind of track record of quality, acclaim, and success that Disney’s Pixar has achieved, and even though they’ve had some overlooked or quickly forgotten entries in recent years, they’re still impossible to ignore.
It always felt somehow guaranteed that “Inside Out,” one of Pixar’s last inarguable, stone-cold classics, would eventually get a sequel. The premise of anthropomorphized emotions developing and interacting inside of a young girl’s mind is just too rich to abandon after one film, and the inevitability of age just screams “dramatic potential.”
So here we are, with the first film’s Riley now firmly entering her teenage years and introducing a whole host of more complicated emotions into the fray alongside first-film favorites Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness.
Leading the new pack (of course, for any teenager) is Anxiety, all gawky, awkward, and exaggerated, voiced by breakout Maya Hawke, maybe one of the recent film’s best conveyors of complex youth.
It’s a sequel premise far more rich with promise than, say, “Cars 2,” and with a screenplay by the original’s same scribe, Meg LeFauve, it’s hard not to hope for this entry to hit the same heights as the unforgettable first film.
‘South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” – Flix Brewhouse – June 23rd and 26th
It’s crass, it’s openly offensive, and it’s maybe even something of a relic of its turn-of-the-millennium time, but the only theatrical foray from cartoon comedy classic “South Park” remains one of the most filthily funny and seriously catchy movie musicals ever made.
Sure, it’s easy to think of anything “South Park” as being all about the button-pushing and shock-comedy offense, but the truth is that the musical compositions here are as good as any that modern moviemaking has seen.
The songwriting strength was even enough to garner an Academy Award nomination for the classic “Blame Canada,” leading to a now iconic Oscars Night performance by none other than Robin Williams.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the movie’s themes of performative outrage, increasingly dangerous meme culture, celebrity worship, and pointless over-militarization have only become more frustratingly relevant since the late ’90s.
It’s hard to believe that we’re celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary this year, but here we are.
For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit flixbrewhouse.com.
‘Robot Dreams’ – Oklahoma City Museum of Art – June 28th through June 30th
This Spanish/French co-production with no dialogue and a seemingly nonsensical premise shocked audiences around the word by unexpectedly offering something so deeply emotional, unique, and powerful that it warranted an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature this year.
Set in a hyper-colorful, weirdo 1980s New York City, lonely Dog orders himself a build-at-home robot companion that becomes his inseparable best friend.
They enjoy a fantasy friendship of rhythmic, musically-synced adventures throughout the city until the day that cruel fate intervenes to separate them.
You wouldn’t think that a dialogue-free cartoon about a dog and his robot friend could absolutely wreck you emotionally and make you weep, but if you’re coming to see this one on the big screen, you might want to pack some tissues.
For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit okcmoa.com.
Catch Brett Fieldcamp’s film column weekly for information and insights into the world of film in the Oklahoma City metro and Oklahoma. | Brought to you by Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.