MIT Lecture Series Committee

unrated

view trailer

format: dvd

The Romantic (2009)

The curious citizens that inhabit the wondrous land of Vauxhull believe the universe to be governed by four gods. There's Po, the flirtatious and free spirited Goddess of Love; Pik, the macabre Lord of Hate; and Pjorrc, the God of Time, who diabolically plots over the earth from his clockwork fortress on the moon.

Lastly, there is Obble-Dee-Puh Puh, the God of All Gods and Creator of All Things. The shrouded king who sits comfortably upon a throne of ascendancy, controlling the destinies of all living things. Men live their lives whilst the gods provide them with the means to make them extraordinary. And there is balance.

But within this mythological world of autumn landscapes and peculiar creatures, a heartbroken young Romantic swears a vicious oath to free the human race from the omnipotent control of the otherworldly gods. Blaming the divine forces for the loss of a past love, Romance embarks on a vengeful showdown with the Holy Host. Along the way he befriends Patience, a crackpot alcoholic who plays the mentor to Romance's hero. Together, the two traverse the lands, romancing women and hunting the divine.

But the Gods have their own agendas, and some are more willing to part with their lives than others. As the romance enfolds, a macramé of horrific causality materializes, tying the major players together in a net of family relationships and betrayal. Elsewhere, a monstrous religious zealot by the name of Fat Daddy manipulates the human race into following his royal son and their conservative manifesto entitled The Poetic End. As Romance and Patience's journey continues, it becomes more and more evident that the world is changing -- and there are forces both human and divine that will stop at nothing to determine the shape that this new world will attain.

A mythical exploration of parent-child relationships, The Romantic meditates on the ultimate lack of love in contemporary society. A fantastical satire on religion, responsibility, and romance, this animated epic bends genres into a haunting tale filled with both humor and horror. [www.theromanticmovie.com]