The Paper Cinema's Odyssey

Thursday, 2 February 2012 - Saturday, 25 February 2012

Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), Old Town Hall, Battersea, SW11 5TN

How Much: £15.00 (Tickets) , £10.00 (Concessions)

The Paper Cinema's Odyssey is an epic story of bikers, hitch-hikers and Trojan warriors but at its core is a separated family who we are beautifully introduced to via the delicate work of illustrator Nicholas Rawling. His pretty creations are infinitely watchable and set to music directed by Christopher Reed, the soundtrack and the animation form an incredibly romantic marriage. With no dialogue, black and white characters and a superbly constructed soundtrack that taps into our childlike sense of wonderment, these unforgettable stylistics feel much like another popular form of dialogue-free cinema enjoying a revival at the moment.

But while the epic nature of Homer's Odyssey has been cunningly adapted, presented in this persistently dream-like fashion it can, like a child's mobile, easily send you into a deep sleep. The characters float ephemerally in an out of view so that events are not as vivid as they could be and though this approach fits with the style of the show, the plot doesn't lend itself to this kind of storytelling.

Despite the flaws of this particular tale, the form and the stylistics of the show are burned onto my memory. When the silent film hype dies down, live animation à la The Paper Cinema will be where it's at. You heard it here first.  

Naima Khan