Norveška, VB/Norway, UK, 2006, 35 mm, barvni/colour, 85’
V angleškem jeziku z angleškimi podnapisi. / In English language with English subtitles.
Film je primeren za mladino. / Suitable for young adults.
režija/directed by: Christopher Nielsen
scenarij/screenplay: Christopher Nielsen, Simon Pegg
animacija/animation: Owen Burgess
montaža/editing: Alastair Reid
glasba/music: Simon Boswell
glasovi/voices: Woody Harrelson (Roy Arnie), Simon Pegg (Odd), Phil Daniels (Gaz), Jay Simpson (Flea), Kyle MacLachlan (Marius), Samantha Morton (Sonia), Jim Broadbent (Stromowskij), Emilia Fox (Bettina), Kris Marshall (Erik), Lisa Maxwell (Lise)
producent/produced by: Bill Godfrey
Nagrade/Awards
Cristal za celovečerni film (Annecy)/Cristal for best feature (Annecy), nagrada publike in najboljša glasba/Audience Award, Best Musical Score
Four stoners, three gangsters, five vegans and a million reasons to free one junkie elephant…
Free Jimmy follows the story of four low life anti-heroes Roy Arnie, Odd, Gaz and Flea, who are uprooted from their mean city streets to work with Ringmaster Stromowski in a touring Russian circus in terminal decline. The star attraction is Jimmy, an elephant kept “happy” on a cocktail of drugs. But Roy Arnie has a dream that one day he will run his own circus and he tells the boys that the key to his dream is Jimmy. On the opening night a bungled attempt to give Jimmy his “fix” causes widespread panic. Jimmy escapes and so begins a mad cap cross country road-trip to find Jimmy before he goes cold turkey.
Suddenly everyone wants a piece of Jimmy. A deranged bunch of animal activists led by clean living, straight-edged couple Marius and Bettina is after Jimmy to front their cause. A trigger-happy Scottish hunting party think his head would look great mounted on their wall and the Lappish Mafia – the meanest men in the North want to “hit” him for a big payoff. Jimmy’s only chance is a benevolent moose who befriends him on the road. Can he help to free Jimmy, release him from his addiction and save him from a million dollar secret?
Marius is the leader of a small band of militant animal rights activists and the pioneer of a philosophy named Straight Edge. The philosophy is a reaction to the excesses of mainstream society; Straight Edgers are fiercely against drink, drugs and casual sex.
Their entire philosophy revolves around sacrifice, although the group seems very confused about what they should be sacrificing themselves for. As the leader, Marius is forced to maintain his precarious position by fiercely crushing opposition from Eric, the only other male in the group, winning the girls over to his point of view. Marius’ girlfriend Bettina is always on his side, while Sonia preaches his Straight Edge philosophy. Lise tend to be a bit more unstable, having an affair with Eric which causes controversies in the group. Marius is a seasoned activist, not only in animal rights, but in just about anything. He has been involved in protests, demonstrations and activist groups since he was a teenager, constantly searching for a cause to make him feel complete. He drifted from group to group before finally deciding to become the champion of animal rights, willing to sacrifice his life for the benefit of tortured animals. In Jimmy the junkie elephant he has found the ultimate symbol for his struggle.
It is a film filled with satire and dark humor, depicting abusive human beings – abusive in many ways – and their selfish exploitation of animals. It is a film with an extremely rich and humorous dialogue, thoroughly developed characters and overwhelmingly complex images, design and animation. There has never been seen a 3D animated film like Free Jimmy. Well-known technology used by Pixar and Dreamworks are here used in a totally new way, creating an underground atmosphere with a grungy look, rusty vehicles and amazingly detailed environment.
Biography
Christopher Nielsen (born in Oslo in 1960), director and author of Free Jimmy, is an artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of society. He has become a legend in the underground comic’s movement in Norway, having published 20 comic books, two 3D TV series and one 2D animated film Friday Night Fever (1996). Christopher Nielsen has been rewarded a number of prestigious prizes for his work, including the Audience Award for the Friday Night Fever at the Oslo Animation Festival 1996 and good reviews at the Short Film Festival later the same year. Christopher Nielsen’s 3D TV series about the Wasted Wankers – two petty criminals and drug abusers – first appeared on Norwegian television in 2000, and was awarded the prizes for Best Humor Program, Best Newcomer and – again – the Audience Award. Free Jimmy is Christopher Nielsen’s first feature film.