'The House' REVIEW: A Delightfully Dark Antholgy Of Animated Bliss
Sometimes a house is more than just a house.
The new Netflix Original The House, a three-part anthology, tells three very different tales about a very peculiar house all told in stunningly powerful stop-motion animation that will chill you one second and have you laugh the next. From its quirkily stylized fabric characters to the meticulously built set pieces, this production is a sight to behold.
The synopsis is as such, The House is an eccentric dark comedy about a house and three surreal tales of the individuals who made it their home. An anthology directed by the leading voices in independent stop motion animation: Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza and produced by Nexus Studios.
The film is split into three stories with the only through-line being The House itself. Each is directed by a different director(s).
Story 1, directed by Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef, is about the construction of The House. Set in the 1800s, a poor family is convinced by an eccentric architect to give up their quaint domicile and move into a fully furnished sprawling mansion of his own design. What starts as a dream come true soon turns out to be a nightmare for the family's two little girls, Mabel and her new baby sister Isobel, who begin noticing odd changes in both The House and their parents who begin acting strangely.
The first story is a meticulously crafted slow-burn in terms of narrative, leaving the viewer to know only as much as the intrepid children discover for themselves, with the finale coming to a powerful conclusion that will more than likely sit with you through the second and third chapters of the film. Both cute and creepy, the character design is wholly original in look and feel, breathing life into not only the characters but the House itself.
In an odd, yet, ingenious change of time period and characters, Story 2, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr, the plot follows an anthropomorphized world of rats, one of whom has acquired The House in the present day only to modernize and sell it for a hefty profit. During an awkward showing to a group of potential buyers, The Developer finds himself at the mercy of two peculiar prospects who insist on staying in The House while they decide if they should buy it.
What follows is a wonderfully twisted chain of events that will leave viewers as entertained as they will be disturbed.
This brings us to Story 3 directed by Paloma Baeza. In this installment, the world has flooded, leaving the titular House as the only structure still standing in a sea of water and mist. Now, the characters are played by felines. The segment revolves around Rosa (played by Susan Wokoma), a determined calico cat who strives to renovate The House back to its original glory.
She is joined by two free-spirited cats, Jen and Elias (played by Helena Bonham Carter and Will Sharpe) who rent rooms from Rosa, paying her through barter of fish. They are soon joined by Jen's Bohemian boyfriend Cosmos (Paul Kaye) who offers to help repair the slowly flooding House in his own particular way in order to earn his keep. Frustrated by Cosmos' changes, Rosa begins to question her own reasons for wanting to complete The House, leading to a strange epiphany on how she lives her life.
Each of the stories brings a different feel and genre to the overall piece while gelling wonderfully from scene to scene, story to story. Everything from the narrative to sets to characters comes to life in vivid detail only adding to the overall result with a playfully awkward realism not normally seen in mainstream animated fare.
There are moments throughout where close-ups showcase the fine-tuned beauty the creatives tirelessly crafted to create such an original and affecting viewing experience. Every last painstaking piece of furniture, clothing and character elements exemplifies the care put into every frame of the work.
Not necessarily for younger viewers, it unnerves as quickly as it elates the audience. Funny, poignant, and a powerful mix of dark and light humor, Netflix's The House is a definite recommendation for anyone looking for an outside-the-box animated film unlike almost anything made by present-day studios.
The Netflix Original The House premieres on January 14th.
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