Fuck you, Chucky.

Walking through the new releases section of my local video rental store, and less than enthusiastic with the selection as I was, I came across a DVD sitting quietly in solitude. As the other videos screamed for attention, offering blood, angst, cheap laughs, and boobies, this lonely DVD just put forward its sword, raised the wooden head of the character on its cover, and showered me with a rain of strings from the sky. The beauty struck me, and, though I’d never heard of it, I rented Strings for the week.

This movie, right off the bat, is freaking gorgeous. As I pressed play on my DVD player, the camera raised to the sky to show the title embellished with the endless bands of ropes poking through the clouds of the magical world the film takes place in. Below the clouds, the strings stretched down until they attached themselves to the puppets that are the people of this world. Yes, the movie is a puppet animation. But rather than editing out the cables that move them, Strings makes its strings the essential aspect of the movie. Strings are the life and death of the puppets, and strings bind them and imbue them with great powers.

Again, the movie is crazy-beautiful. The elegantly carved puppets, the environments, the cinematography, and the colors and lights and darks create an atmosphere that is filled with magic. There are some truly fantastic (in both senses of the word) scenes, like the birthing of the baby puppet and the encounter with the one-stringed puppets. The story is also elegant; your basic “young prince rides out to save his kingdom from evil” plotline, but with emotion that is somehow amplified by the puppets, despite the fact that their faces are set in one expression.

I think I enjoyed this movie as much as I did any one of the Lord of the Rings movies, which isn’t saying TOO much for it, but might give you an impression of how impressed I was with the visuals and themes. I highly recommend seeing it at least once if you have ANY appreciation for cinematic beauty.