Director – Izzy Livesey – 2024 – UK – Cert. U – 3m
****1/2
In her secluded laboratory, an obsessive woman scientist develops a powerful serum which leads to unexpected consequences – animated short accompanies the reissue of Away, back in UK cinemas from Friday, March 14th
This plays around with that old horror movie trope, the mad scientist, making that figure into a middle-aged woman in a white lab coat. The pleasures to be had here come not so much from what happens – although the twist at the end, when you see it, is likely to surprise you – as they do in the expression of its happening. What impresses are the designs of the characters (both of them!), the look of the sets, the use of lighting to create atmosphere, and – once you get into the area of kinetics, the fact that this is a moving picture – the choreography and flow of the piece. (I use the world flow deliberately, since it perfectly describes Gint Zalbalodis’ two, wordless animated features to date. The current, animated short accompanies the reissue this week of the first of those, Away (2019). Zalbalodis’ second feature is the deservedly Oscar-winning Flow (2024), out in cinemas here next week on Friday, March 21st.)
Like Zalbalodis’ films, The Lab is wordless. Well, not quite – it does visually employ little bits of the English language on newspaper cuttings, a computer screen and elsewhere. Director Livesey is highly adept as marshalling minimal resources to great effect. I was reminded of Terry Gilliam’s dictum, from his animation days, that the trick with animation is to minimise the animator’s workload via such cunning devices as having a character move through tall grass. Livesey doesn’t do that exactly, but she manages a terrific opening in which the camera moves across a pinboard to which are affixed newspaper cuttings (“Evil Scientist: Where Is She Now?”) whilst dodgy fluorescent lighting randomly buzzes on and off, building the atmosphere brilliantly.
It also borrows heavily from the style of filmmaking developed by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson in their 1960s science fiction puppet shows, although this is clearly made using 3D CG animation technology, not physical, live action puppetry in model sets. Still, it certainly has CG model sets, which is a definite similarity. I’m thinking of the way tension is built by having a computer screen showing a graphical bar creeping from left to right across a screen, with the words DNA Reconstruction above an ever-increasing percentage number to show the progress of a process. The Andersons used to deploy devices like this all the time.
There are other similarities too. The sequence towards the end (after a doorbell rings) of a point of view walking towards a door recalls the title sequence of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (TV series, 1967-68) in which footsteps walk purposefully down a dark alleyway towards their quarry. Earlier, our mad scientist flicks four analogue switches on a control box, causing four small red lights to come on. And the real kicker comes just after that, when the lady scientist’s jaw suddenly revealed to resemble that of the puppet characters on Thunderbirds (TV series, 1965-66), notably the stuttering (male) scientist and inventor Brains. It’s possible all this is an influence; if it isn’t, it’s a remarkable coincidence.
Someone clearly likes the Alien franchise too, because at one point there are man-sized tube jars holding, insofar as one can discern through musky liquid, inert face-huggers. However, as the throbbing music starts to contribute to the building of atmosphere, you realise that John Carpenter is another clear influence, in particular the feeling of his schlocky if extremely effective Prince of Darkness (1987), with stange creatures in tall glass tubes.
Towards the end, a sequence of shadows of the mad scientist drinking her own potion and then transforming into some hideous minster recalls Robert Louis Stevenson’s frequently filmed horror tale Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Helped no end by Sean Kirby’s memorable score, its aural wordlessness and gothic sensibilities make this the perfect short film opener for Away. Putting it here is a very shrewd piece of judgement by UK distributors Munro Films. So make sure you get to your seat for the start of the double bill: don’t be late.
Animated short The Lab accompanies the reissue of Away in cinemas in the UK from Friday, March 14th.
