Impressions on the film From Inside
Still from From Inside, a film by John Bergin
Article written by Richard Gorey.
To say From Inside, a partially-animated fable of nuclear devastation, is relentlessly bleak is meant more as an observation than criticism, since that feeling in the work is intentional. From Inside follows Cee, a young woman in a post-apocalyptic world whose journey on a rusting train to possible salvation is fraught with horror, hardship and the promise of even worse suffering down the track.
Artist John Bergin created From Inside almost single-handedly. Though the environments and landscapes are intricately rendered and animated, the movements of the main characters are suggested with moving stills rather than fully animated. The result is a dreamlike, sometimes static experience whose haunting Gothic imagery is nonetheless quite powerful. I wonder if it is even fair to describe and market the film as “animation” since it seems something unique and new—a hybrid that falls somewhere between the experience of a graphic novel and a motion picture. Other films have employed similar graphic styles, but seldom for a feature length production.
As a character animator, I am always searching for ways to enhance the story I tell with bits of acting, expression, and business that might convey emotion and clarity to the audience. I sensed Bergin was less attached to this kind of communication, possibly because his characters have had their emotions deadened by the monstrous tragedy of the atomic “end of the world” he presents. I’d like to have seen more moments of character animation, especially between Cee and the mysterious Bandaged Man she encounters, but Bergin’s story is more about the awesome wilderness of destruction and despair that mocks the puny humanity of his characters, and it was in this aspect the film was at its most profound and successful.
Bergin says, of the film’s unique look, “La Jetee and Strings were two films that sort of validated my decision not to have character animation. I did some tests with character animation — animated mouths specifically–and voices–some of the characters had dialog. It didn’t feel right to me, and after seeing Strings work so well (a film with puppets–where the mouths do not move when the characters speak, and you can see the puppeteers) I knew I should probably stick with my gut feeling.”
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