Masks at the Movies

Imagine my suprise when I was trying to unwind with a movie and not think about masks when I found the movie was actually about... MASKS.

I love Neil Gaiman. His Sandman graphic novels are some of my favorite books of all time. I also have a healthy respect for Dave McKean, one of several illustrators for Sandman. So I was pretty keen to see this movie for which Gaiman did the screenplay and McKean did the artistic direction. While it turned out that I was a little bored by the story, I though it was a real treat to see the masks designed by McKean.

Other mask movies. "The King of Masks", a story about a Chinese maskmaker in need of an apprentice, is one of my favorite movies of all time. I thought "Eyes Wide Shut", directed by Stanley Kubrick with masks designed by Guerrino Lovato (I took a class with him once!) was really, really, really, boring, although the masks were lovely.

However, I'm planning on sticking with anime for the near future for entertainment! Not that it's safe from masks, either, there was that vicious flesh eating Noh mask in "Inuyasha"...