Dir: Dave McKean. Starring: Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Rob Brydon, Jason Barry, Stephen Fry.
MirrorMask is the first feature from the peerless writer/artist partnership of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. They’ve conquered comics and are now trying to do the same to film. McKean takes directorial duties, is also the credited designer and shares a story credit with Gaiman, who contributed the screenplay.
The movie concerns the adventures of young circus performer Helena (Leonidas) a teenage girl who’s ill-tempered sparring with her mother (McKee) is interrupted by the latter’s life-threatening brain tumour. Wracked by guilt, Helena suddenly finds herself in a strange fantasy world which is facing destruction at the onset of “The Darkness” and whose White Queen (McKee again) has fallen into an undisturbable sleep.
Helena, aided by her masked juggler friend Valentine (Barry, excellent), set off to find the charm that can wake the white queen and save the world. So far so Labyrinth / Dark Crystal / Neverending Story. However, although those films are clear influences, it would be wrong to see MirrorMask as a kids adventure film. Frankly, I’m not even sure children would enjoy it at all. It’s far too slow and surreal to be the kind of family fare it is constantly referencing.
Yet McKean is an outstanding visual stylist and the movie looks unwaveringly fantastic. Combined with Gaiman’s ability to conjure up a wonderfully detailed
The balance between how much of the stuff on show is literally happening and how much is taking place inside Helena’ troubled head is left nicely unanswered. In this regard, and for all its fantasy influences, MirrorMask most resembles The Company of Wolves.
Still, the problem with classifying MirrorMask seems to have defeated its producers, who having failed to attract an audience in the US have now released the film over here in as modest a way as is humanly possible. I made the pilgrimage to the ICA to catch a showing in a small and really very cold cinema, an ultra-arthouse screen I’ve not in fact visited since it
showed a collection of Hal Hartley shorts over a decade ago.
In fact you can count on one hand the number of venues showing MirrorMask and that is disastrous for a film which so obviously demands viewing on as a big a canvas as possible. Furthermore it’s an offering from two major British talents and deserves in itself, much, much better treatment.
Hopefully the forthcoming adaptation of what is to my mind Gaiman’s novelistic masterpiece, Stardust, will get the backing it deserves.
Chris Denton.
Related Links:
MirrorMask is playing at the ICA, London until 23rd March. Website: http://www.ica.org.uk/index.cfm
Official Movie site, including details of the (few) other venues playing the film: www.mirrormaskmovie.com
Neil Gaiman’s online journal: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/
Click here to talk about Mirrormask on the Garbled forum.
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