The Triplets of Belleville Cine-Concert
at Pepperdine University’s Smothers Theatre
Reviewed by Nancy Kay Turner
The Triplets of Belleville (2003), a French-Canadian, wildly inventive and idiosyncratic animated film with no dialogue (just sound effects and simulated speech) has an exuberant original Oscar-winning soundtrack (more on that later). The plot is ostensibly about a boy, a dog, a grandmother and a bicycle, but it is really about the passing of time, aging, resilience and persistence. At the same time, it hints at a social critique of America while clearly a love letter to early Disney animation as well as a paean to those kitschy American gangster movies from the 1930’s. Add in a love affair with Hollywood’s movie musicals and you begin to sense the complexity here, as all this is served up with a dash of whimsy and with a deeply sardonic Gallic sense of humor.
To read Turner’s entire review, go to Riot Material magazine: https://www.riotmaterial.com/the-triplets-of-belleville-cine-concert/
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