I have a weakness for journey films. They are a tried and tested narrative formula, stretching far back to fairy tales, fables and myths. Something about watching a character’s emotional journey, mirrored by a physical one, has always worked for me. Towards the end of my own recent journey back to the U.K., I was invited to a preview screening of the film bunny and the bull. It is a road movie in a way, but also not at all, as the main character, Stephen (Ed Hogg) spends the majority of the film, unable to leave his house. The magical mystery tour that led to this self imprisonment, is revealed in a series of hallucinatory flashbacks, bringing us closer to understanding why he cannot leave, and if he will ever find the courage to face the outside world again.
Stephen is quiet, reserved, kind and afraid of... just about everything, He lives in an enormous flat, crammed with boxes and boxes and boxes of carefully catalogued collections of mundane objects most would discard: straws, plastic bags, aging ready made meals. But it wasn’t always this way. A year ago, Stephen went on a cross european trip with his best mate Bunny (Simon Farnaby) . The two are a likeable pair of polar opposites, all of Stephen’s awkwardness matched by Bunny’s charismatic careless ways. And nothing about this european trip is ordnary in a touristic sense, as Stephens’s incredibly strange guide book takes them through places most tourists would never take any interest in going. for example, poland’s museum of cobblery, where one can eat in the cafe after and have the “authentic meal of an 18th century cobbler*” ("why would anyone want to do that?" questions Bunny. Stephen isn’t given much of a chance to reply as Bunny drags them off elsewhere)
but not only is this a road movie that never leaves the flat. its a movie with scenes all over europe, that is shot almost entirely... in Yorkshire. this is achieved by wondrous production design, mixing everything from stop motion animation, to studio sets that look so charmingly hand made, they are unlike any you’ll soon see again. this a low budget film that works its budget well , not by trying to seem bigger than it is, but rather by exploiting its apparent limits. and like the best british indie films, its idiosyncratic and sure of itself. the characters are real and likeable and human and different. they are so well drawn , that they are easily warmed to (especiallly Eloisa (Veronica Echuegui) an adorably eccentric spanish girl, who accidentaly creates a love triangle by crossing their path)and anyone who is a fan of the mighty boosh, I.t. crowd, nathan barley will be delighted with the casting, and well down with the humour.
so whats wrong with it then?
It does feel ever so slightly long. After a pacey start , there becomes a point just past the midway mark, where it begins to feel like there are one too many obstacles, and zany characters that they must come across, before they reach the strange and painful climax. its almost as if the writers and cast had so much fun going throuh strange scenarios, that they kept adding to them, unsure of when to say when. i found the climax of the story wayyyy over the top. Then again somehow that kind of suits the mad journey that is the film.
So in short, see it. maybe even make an effort to see it while its out in the cinema, it does look and sound very pretty. (the soundtrack is as easy on the ears as it is haunting) and will keep you entertained and amused for the ride. bunny and the bull hits cinemas in the uk november 27th, and with any luck after not too long, it may come and hit other places, like germany hopefully....
Stephen is quiet, reserved, kind and afraid of... just about everything, He lives in an enormous flat, crammed with boxes and boxes and boxes of carefully catalogued collections of mundane objects most would discard: straws, plastic bags, aging ready made meals. But it wasn’t always this way. A year ago, Stephen went on a cross european trip with his best mate Bunny (Simon Farnaby) . The two are a likeable pair of polar opposites, all of Stephen’s awkwardness matched by Bunny’s charismatic careless ways. And nothing about this european trip is ordnary in a touristic sense, as Stephens’s incredibly strange guide book takes them through places most tourists would never take any interest in going. for example, poland’s museum of cobblery, where one can eat in the cafe after and have the “authentic meal of an 18th century cobbler*” ("why would anyone want to do that?" questions Bunny. Stephen isn’t given much of a chance to reply as Bunny drags them off elsewhere)
but not only is this a road movie that never leaves the flat. its a movie with scenes all over europe, that is shot almost entirely... in Yorkshire. this is achieved by wondrous production design, mixing everything from stop motion animation, to studio sets that look so charmingly hand made, they are unlike any you’ll soon see again. this a low budget film that works its budget well , not by trying to seem bigger than it is, but rather by exploiting its apparent limits. and like the best british indie films, its idiosyncratic and sure of itself. the characters are real and likeable and human and different. they are so well drawn , that they are easily warmed to (especiallly Eloisa (Veronica Echuegui) an adorably eccentric spanish girl, who accidentaly creates a love triangle by crossing their path)and anyone who is a fan of the mighty boosh, I.t. crowd, nathan barley will be delighted with the casting, and well down with the humour.
so whats wrong with it then?
It does feel ever so slightly long. After a pacey start , there becomes a point just past the midway mark, where it begins to feel like there are one too many obstacles, and zany characters that they must come across, before they reach the strange and painful climax. its almost as if the writers and cast had so much fun going throuh strange scenarios, that they kept adding to them, unsure of when to say when. i found the climax of the story wayyyy over the top. Then again somehow that kind of suits the mad journey that is the film.
So in short, see it. maybe even make an effort to see it while its out in the cinema, it does look and sound very pretty. (the soundtrack is as easy on the ears as it is haunting) and will keep you entertained and amused for the ride. bunny and the bull hits cinemas in the uk november 27th, and with any luck after not too long, it may come and hit other places, like germany hopefully....
