More tasty celluloid darkness

For whatever reason, it's turning out to be a movie weekend... While taking our son to the local indie theatre to see March of the Penguins (a lovely, if somewhat over-anthropomorphising film), I saw that MirrorMask is going to be showing early in October. MirrorMask is Neil Gaimain's film collaboration with Dave McKean & the Jim Henson Company - and it looks like, well, a Sandman issue come to life: dark, lush, richly characterized...

Destined to become a classic for fans of Gaiman, cinema, and fantasy alike, MIRRORMASK tells the story of Helena, a fifteen-year-old girl who works for her family's circus. Helena juggles, sells popcorn, and wishes that she could run away from the circus and join the "real world." Then, one day she wakes up to find herself in a magical world filled with fantastic beings and creatures, an alternate reality. It is a land of opposing kingdoms, one perpetually existing in light, the other in constant darkness. These lands have existed in perfect balance, until now. And Helena finds herself about to embark on a most remarkable journey.

(quote from http://www.neilgaiman.com/) The official site (annoying music/Flash you can't bypass) is here. The Apple.com trailer is here, an interview with Gaiman & McKean is here, stills are here, and last but not least, Gaiman's site for it is here. This puppy has been in the works for a long time - it officially hits theatres 30 Sept 2005, though given that it only has a 1-week run at an indie house in Seattle, I'm not sure what kind of distribution it's going to get. Still, I'm glad it's (finally) coming to fruition.