Blood Tea and Red String
Blood Tea and Red String is a stop-motion-animated feature film, called by director Christiane Cegavske a "fairy tale for adults". It was released on February 2, 2006 after a production time of 13 years, having been filmed in various places in the West Coast and in two studios. The musical score was composed and performed by Mark Growden.
Blood Tea and Red String | |
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Directed by | Christiane Cegavske |
Written by | Christiane Cegavske |
Music by | Mark Growden |
Release date | February 2, 2006 |
Running time | 71 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Cegavske says in the audio commentary to the DVD for this film that it is to be the first in a trilogy.
Plot
The tale centers on the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart's desire. The Mice commission the Oak Dwellers to create a beautiful doll for them. When she is complete, the Creatures fall in love with her and refuse to give her up. Resorting to thievery the Mice abscond with her in the middle of the night. Filled with fantastical creatures and dazzling scenery, the Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak journey through the mystical land to reclaim their love. The mice descend into debauchery as they become drunk on blood tea.
Critical reception
Brett D. Rogers of Frames Per Second magazine praised Blood Tea, calling it "exquisitely realized ... an antidote to modern digital precision and diluted creativity." The same review highlighted Mark Growden's score as suiting the film perfectly, "[w]rapping Blood Tea's intricate scenery and its characters' wordless dialect in a lingering, haunting layer of spectral sound."[1] Harvard's Deirdre Barrett also reviewed the film positively. “’Each man kills the thing he loves' seems to be message of the film," she wrote, "Mice, rats and spider compete for a doll and her exotic child with tragic consequences... The whole film had a dream or storybook feel. But it is the childhood nightmare or the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Its magic serves sudden, violent death as often as love or beauty. It’s a tale with childhood’s imagery but not a tale for children.”[2]
See also
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of stop-motion films
- Adult animation
- List of films shot over three or more years
References and notes
- Rogers, Brett D. (January 15, 2007). "Blood Tea and Red String". Frames Per Second. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- Barrett, Deirdre (January 1, 2007). "Blood Tea and Red String". The Dream Videophile. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
External links