LE TABLEAU – SLIFF Review

In the TOY STORY trilogy we get to see what our playthings do when we’re not around. Most recently with WRECK-IT RALPH we saw what our video game heroes and villains did after the arcade closes. With LE TABLEAU we see what the paintings do when the artist is away from the studio. It turns out that one of the paintings is a complete world with its own class system. The upper class is the “allduns”, those figures completed by the painter. Then there’s the “halfsies”, those who aren’t quite finished (maybe the lower half or right side are without color). Lowest on the class pole are the hunted, despised “sketchies”, creatures composed of penciled lines and shapes. Of course there’s got to be a forbidden love ala “Romeo and Juliet” with an aldunn lad smitten with a halfsie lass. In trying to reunite the pair, an unlikely trio travels beyond their world into other painted realms and explores the artist’s studio itself. This beautiful animated feature uses many high-tech CGI effects to create a world of living art. And could the desire for the painter’s return be a religious allegory?  Don’t mull over the symbolism too much or you might miss the many imaginative, visual gems in the colorful fable.

LE TABLEAU screens as part of the 21st Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, November 10 at 2 PM at Washington University’s Brown Hall