Idiots and Angels

Angel is not a good man. He sits in the bar, gropes the barman's wife, deals in weapons and cares about nobody. One morning he wakes with wings on his back. The wings work independently of his intentions: they do good on their own, help people on their own. He tries to be rid of them, tries cutting them off; they grow back. Then other people start wanting those wings, and the matter turns into something else. Bill Plympton's film has no dialogue at all. It was drawn in pencil on paper and coloured on a computer, and his familiar line of transforming bodies runs through it. With no dialogue, the sound design and music carry the load, using artists including Tom Waits and Pink Martini. It screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008 and received a special distinction at the Annecy animation festival the same year. Who it's for: Viewers who like independent animation, wordless storytelling, and Plympton's line. Who it's not for: The humour is merciless and the imagery deliberately chooses to be repulsive at points. This is not the film for anyone expecting animation to be charming.