Legendary animator and cartoonist Bill Plympton’s first feature, THE TUNE is a wildly surreal animated musical comedy about a struggling songwriter named Del (voiced by Daniel Neiden), desperate to write a hit tune to save his relationship with his long-suffering girlfriend Didi (voiced by Maureen McElheron, who co-wrote the script and composed the music). On his way to meet her and his boss, Del gets sidetracked in the cheerfully deranged Alternate Universe of Flooby Nooby: a strangely nostalgic vision of 1950s middle-class America as filtered through the affectionate-but-twisted sensibilities of David Lynch, Talking Heads and classic Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons. There’s a Doggie Elvis who croons about his pompadour; a love duet between a Burger and Fry, a slice of Cherry Pie and a Scoop of Ice Cream; and a joyfully sadistic Bellhop at The Love Sick Hotel, all singing lovably warped tunes like “Dig My Do,” “No Nose Blues” and “Tango Shmango”. Plympton’s famed animation style, done in colored pencils with a gorgeous pastel palette, is perfectly suited to this beautifully off-kilter saga of a man who loses his way only to find his heart: “Lost?” “No, I just don’t know where I am.”
directed by: Bill Plympton
starring: Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron, Marty Nelson, Emily Bindiger
1992 / 69 min / 1.33:1 / English 2.0 Mono
Additional info:
- New restoration of THE TUNE by the Academy Film Archive
- “Your Face” (1987) — Plympton’s wonderfully bizarre, Oscar-nominated animated short (restored by the Academy Film Archive)
- “How To Kiss” (1988) — Plympton’s outrageous, body-morphing cartoon short
- “Guard Dog” (2004) – another Oscar-nominated dark comic gem from Plympton revealing a dog’s wildest fears as his owner takes him for a walk (restored by the Academy Film Archive)
- “The Flying House – Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend” – famed animator Winsor McCay’s last film from 1921, restored / re-scored / newly voiced by Plymptoon Studios in 2011
- New hour-long video interview on THE TUNE with director/writer/producer Bill Plympton, composer/co-writer/voice actor Maureen McElheron, and voice actor Daniel Neiden, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile
- Trailer for Plympton’s new feature film SLIDE with special video introduction by Bill Plympton
- New commentary track by animation producer and podcaster Adam Rackoff and podcaster and film critic James Hancock
- New essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central)
- Archival audio commentary from 2004 with Bill Plympton and
