By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Kevin Schreck
Country: canada, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 83
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2265495/combined
Chris says: “Best known for his creative 1960s opening credit sequences (WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT?) and truly innovative work on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, Canadian-born, British-based animator Richard Williams would have preferred universal recognition for THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, a gorgeous, highbrow, feature-length magnum opus he worked on for nearly three decades and never completed. Or, may have possibly completed if, in 1992, Warner Brothers hadn’t taken his unfinished, past-deadline work and completely bowdlerized it into a schlocky, sub-Disney animated musical called ARABIAN KNIGHTS which they eventually dumped into theaters, failing to appeal to anyone.
“Williams has an undoubtedly fascinating narrative and the rare, mostly mesmerizing footage of his once perpetual work-in-progress is, as they say, worth the price of admission. One glaring problem, however—so shattered was he by the whole ordeal, he refuses to talk or be interviewed about it. Thus, director Kevin Schreck has no choice but to rely on archival footage of Williams and interviews with practically everyone else involved with the project. Although rightfully upfront about all this from the get-go, Schreck unfortunately ends up overcompensating to obscure the unavoidable whole in this documentary’s center. Despite the craft and care put into telling this narrative, even at 83 minutes, it contains too many superfluous passages (did we really need to see the deadly somber wrap party forced upon Williams and his crew after Warner took the film out of their hands?). Still, PERSISTENCE OF VISION is most effective in how it builds up your anticipation for what Williams hoped to ultimately achieve, rendering what actually comes of it (via the full trailer for Warner’s version of the film) all the more tragic and heartbreaking. 3 cats
“(This film screened at the 2013 Independent Film Festival of Boston).”