Phil Mulloy Masterclass: The Master Looks Back At His Work (GoCritic! Review)

Phil Mulloy (c) Animafest Zagreb

Jan Tracz reports from the Animafest Zagreb masterclass of Phil Mulloy, in our GoCritic! review series.

What Phil Mulloy said: The master looks back at his work

Phil Mulloy “doesn't think of himself as a master”, but there he was, receiving Animafest Zagreb’s Lifetime Achievement Award and delivering a masterclass during the festival. So why is it that so many young filmmakers adore his work and still consider him to be a major director who changed their perception of animation in film? Consider this small essay an investigative piece, examining the insights gleaned from Mulloy at the event.

It’s 11:30 AM on the final day of the Animafest Zagreb Festival. The screening room is packed with journalists, filmmakers and producers of various generations; they’re all here to see Phil Mulloy, the British animation filmmaker whose work is characterized by ingenious scripts, a simple, yet unique animation style, and a kinky (to some extent) humour. There were a few crucial moments in his talk: it reminded us of how prominent a figure Mulloy still is for generations of artists and made us reconsider a few of his previous shorts.


I. What Phil said: Apparently, he takes his work “seriously”, but “never strives for perfection”. As we learned during his masterclass, he “never looks back at his previous projects”.

This is, actually, an extremely useful insight that allows us to rethink the way we perceive his outrageous six-part series 'Cowboys' (1991). Going back to those animations and rewatching them after listening to Mulloy talk, this quote seems particularly fitting for this series. Consisting of six subversive shorts, it uses western aesthetics to ironize fascism, humanity and the entire history of cinema. Although Mulloy didn't really talk about this particular anthology during his masterclass, another quote spoke to the subject in question: “I don’t write scripts, and this allows me to carry on working without hesitating”.

In all these shorts, there’s no doubt that Mulloy simply goes with his artistic flow without really thinking about hitting the creative brakes or considering the audience’s taste (or limits). There are political commentaries, references to classical cinema (such as Fred Zinnemann’s 'High Noon' from 1952), black humour, cheap and, at times, filthy eroticism, and perversion too. In fact, it plays out as a well-thought-out piece of work created by a self- conscious madman.

 II. What Phil said: “[It’s about] drawing a line between perfection and imperfection: for me, it’s intuitive”.


This balance can be seen in his cult triptych, 'Intolerance', which is a humorous and allegorical take on a conflict between humans and aliens hailing from a mysterious planet called Zog - a clear callback to D.W. Griffith’s notorious 1916 film. It’s an action-filled sci-fi featuring sexual deviations, strange romances, and historical references. The film’s ambitious plot requires close analysis of and quotes taken from all three parts of the movie, as they intertwine narratively and result in an ending which is closely related to the opening sequence in the first section, so we won’t delve too deeply into this trilogy. Simply put, 'Intolerance' is an excellent example of how Mulloy strikes a balance between perfection (brainy and innovative storytelling) and imperfection (ugly, unattractive animation, veering into eerie territory). After the film’s final third, we understand that all the pieces have their place in the director’s jigsaw puzzle and we realise that, in Mulloy’s work, contrasts form a whole.

III. What Phil said: “There is no hell and no heaven and there is no afterlife”, as argued while discussing his personal beliefs and a few childhood experiences.

Mulloy’s reasoning chimes with his newest, apocalyptic film, which was screened in an exclusive during the masterclass. It’s still an untitled work-in-progress, but Mulloy doesn’t believe that anything in his work is purely finished or perfect. His new work tells the story of a family who are trying to survive on the outskirts of an apocalyptic London. The images are deliberately poorly lit, dominated by grey to underline how polluted the air is in the artist’s vision of the city. It might be seen as an exciting take on Cormac McCarthy’s famous novel 'The Road', with a dose of British humour and a broader sense of nihilism. Maybe it’s Mulloy’s age – he’s now 75 - that has led him to believe that nothing awaits us after death because, unlike McCarthy’s novel, Mulloy’s newest short doesn’t really leave us thinking that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

IV. What someone else said: “Even at 75, Mulloy’s still got it”, as whispered to me by a fellow spectator after the screening of the unfinished film.

We can't argue with that: Mulloy constantly mixes stylistic simplicity with spontaneity and a unique artistic vision. One might call it intelligence, an elegance that’s incorporated into both his stories and his clever shots. He's an iconoclast: Mulloy destroys and reinvents clichés, which is why he’s more than deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award at Animafest. There’s something inexplicable about his cinema; something that ensures that nothing will ever replace auteurism, authentic artistic vision and human imagination.

All event photos: (c) Animafest Zagreb

contributed by: Jan Tracz

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