The Courtyard
Herefordshire's Centre for the ArtsArchive for January 22, 2010
Bunny and the Bull – The Courtyard Review
The Courtyard’s Ryan Bromley reviews the new film from the director of the Mighty Boosh – ‘Bunny and the Bull’
From the creative minds that produced The Mighty Boosh comes one of the most surreal and touching films that you will see this year. Whilst Bunny and the Bull is rather short on plot, and not as funny as one would expect given its pedigree, it is a visually stunning tale of one man’s attempt to escape from the harsh reality of life.
Stephen ‘the Bull’ Turnbull (Edward Hogg) is a neurotic and obsessive compulsive agoraphobe confined to his ephemera-crammed house after a harrowing journey around Europe with his best friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby). Bunny is the anti-thesis of Stephen. Self-centered, impulsive and promiscuous, he encourages his friend to be more outgoing whilst undermining his attempts and antagonising him at every turn. When Bunny sleeps with Eloisa (Verónica Echegui in her first English-speaking role), a Spanish waitress with whom Stephen has fallen in love, their trip seems likely to end in disaster. Once Bunny announces his intention to travel to Spain and fight a bull a catastrophic outcome seems certain.
The film’s central conceit is that almost all of the action takes place within the confines of Stephen’s house, with moments from his traumatic trip relived in a series of fantastically surreal scenes. Each is beautifully filmed in a blend of live action and animation portraying landscapes constructed from collected newspapers, the workings of a clock and the inside of a snow globe.
The mise-en-scène has a fabulously low-fi feel, the moment when Stephen and Eloisa ride a clockwork fairground is particularly magical, and the film’s dreamlike aesthetic is reminiscent of the work of Michel Gondry and Tim Burton. Far from being a directorial quirk, the visual style of the film reflects Stephen’s mental state and his reluctance to let go of matters material or emotional.
In his debut feature, director Paul King moves away from the whimsical world of The Mighty Boosh to create a film which, despite its quirky appearance, has at its heart the kind of melancholy and darkness which can make anyone wish to withdraw from the world.
Bunny and the Bull is on from 25 to 28 January at The Courtyard. Call 01432 340555, or visit www.courtyard.org.uk to book.
The Courtyard Review
