(English will follow)
"Quel que soit votre âge, il y a une part en vous qui ne quitte jamais vraiment l'école, pour le meilleur et pour le pire. Dans MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA, un groupe d'amis tente de surmonter ses différences, s'appuyant les uns sur les autres en temps de crise.
Jeune génie du roman graphique contemporain, l'Américain Dash Shaw s'est fait remarquer il y a quelques années avec le fascinant pavé Bottomless Belly Button, une chronique familiale qui ne ressemble à aucune autre chronique familiale. Comment son univers très particulier allait-il s'exprimer au cinéma ? My Entire School Sinking Into the Sea répond de manière limpide à cette question - ce premier film est du pur Dash Shaw transposé sur grand écran. Les premiers instants du film, avec ses décors en coupe, ses trajets de personnages "à plat" dans l'espace, font des clins d’œil à la bande dessinée. Le film assume tout à fait cela: le crayonné est volontairement visible (apportant un aspect énervé au dessin, prêt à exploser) et on pourrait presque toucher le volume de la peinture étalée au second plan." -NICOLAS BARDOT pour FILMDECULTE.COM
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From acclaimed graphic novelist Dash Shaw (New School) comes an audacious debut that is equal parts disaster cinema, high school comedy and blockbuster satire, told through a dream-like mixed media animation style that incorporates drawings, paintings and collage.
Dash (Jason Schwartzman) and his best friend Assaf (Reggie Watts) are preparing for another year at Tides High School muckraking on behalf of their widely-distributed but little-read school newspaper, edited by their friend Verti (Maya Rudolph). But just when a blossoming relationship between Assaf and Verti threatens to destroy the boys’ friendship, Dash learns of the administration’s cover-up that puts all the students in danger. As disaster erupts and the friends race to escape through the roof of the school, they are joined by a popular know-it- all (Lena Dunham) and a lunch lady (Susan Sarandon) who is much more than meets the eye. But even as the film piles on brilliant details like a post-apocalyptic cult formed by jocks, video game homages, and an infectious synth soundtrack, it never loses sight of the characters at the heart of the story. Hailed as “the most original animated film of the year” and “John Hughes for the Adult Swim generation” (Indiewire), the film’s everyday concerns of friendships, cliques and young love remind us how the high school experience continues to shape who we become, even in the most unusual of circumstances.
"Inventive, beautiful, and more than a little bizarre, the animated feature debut from acclaimed graphic novelist Dash Shaw is surely the most delightful disaster movie in cinema history. To say that My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is like John Hughes fused with The Poseidon Adventure makes for a snappy pitch — and it's true — but it doesn't prepare you for the sheer originality of Dash's vision. Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph, Susan Sarandon, and Reggie Watts supply voices for this story about what it takes to survive adolescence. Literally. Whether it's autumn leaves tumbling in the wind or bodies toppling to their deaths, Dash's imagery, with its hand-drawn figures and gouache-painted celluloid, is awash in wacky wondrousness. Body count aside, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is a very sweet film about the importance of friendship — and about knowing when it's all right to fudge facts for the sake of a good story." -JANE SCHOETTLE, for TIFF
