Is this why Barker takes so long between films? We can only be grateful for whatever he deigns to give us. Man! This reads as bailout fable, class critique, existential parable. (Naturalism too—could it be that they actually, intentionally distilled Zola’s La Bete Humaine for us?) It’s also a sentimentality buster, or an ideological primer—viz. its demolition of The Little Engine that Could. Or, it’s a textbook example of objective correlative. Or, it’s nine minutes of perfect comic construction. Great score. There’s his muse, Richard Condie. There’s a Norman McLaren-like anger/savagery beneath the genial surface. (Did they just throw that baby in the boiler?!) It’s actually very touching, though that might only be due to all of these moments of creative apotheosis. The ending is a Hal Roach topper—the captain! The dog!—with the grace and symmetry of a classical cadence.
Tweet Review:
Saw Cordell Barker’s #Runaway. Utter mastery. Swiftian anger, & the wit & craft to merit the comparison. http://bit.ly/1IloM6x