Paperhouse: Revisited

In a previous post, You Gotta Cut Down Trees To Build A Paperhouse, I detailed my twenty one year quest to find an elusive movie that has haunted me for most of my life. Said movie, Paperhouse, was never released in The U.S.A., which made finding it that much more difficult. With a bit of luck, and persistent Google-ing, I did manage to procure a copy, watch it, and bring closure to that which had ailed me. What follows is a review of the movie, my thoughts on the matter, and all that implies.

I would totally live there.

Assuming you read my first post on the subject of Flicker Cogitations and how it tied into the movie Paperhouse, you know how important it was to me to finally get my mitts on a copy of this motion picture. It took a few weeks to arrive, but when it did I was more than relieved. Eagerly I ripped open the packaging to discover the eyes of a little girl staring back at me from the front cover of the DVD. The cover was different than I expected, it didn’t match any of the photos I had seen online, and the case was kind of shoddy. Upon turning it around, to read the blurb, it donned on me that this was no typical DVD case, it may be a cheap bootleg. After removing the plastic seal and opening the case, my suspicions were proven correct.

Front cover.

Shoddy packaging.

Okay, so it was a cheap burn that some dude concocted on his home computer. I was kind of ripped off, but no big deal, right? Inspecting the DVD itself revealed that it was in fact a Region 1 DVD, thus it would work on my home player. I didn’t need to wait for my Region 2 player to arrive from the United Kingdom. I could watch it immediately. Humans hate stepping in poo, but flies love the stuff!

I popped it in, hit play, and waited for the greatness to flow. Within nanoseconds I knew that my crucible wasn’t yet over. You may remember the days of VHS and the need to adjust the tracking of the analog tape. If you didn’t adjust the tracking correctly, the image would bounce. Whoever transferred this movie did so directly from VHS tape, but they failed to properly adjust the tracking. The image was slightly jumpy. Eventually, I managed to forget about it and grew accustomed to it. Also, I had forgotten how terrible VHS audio was. We are truly spoiled by HD.

Technical issues aside, I can say that I rather enjoyed the movie. Almost assuredly I can say that I would have loved it as a child. Paperhouse tells the story of a young girl who falls ill. While in recovery, she spends her waking moments drawing pictures. While sleeping she finds herself in a fantasy dreamworld of her making, created by her daytime artwork. Whatever she draws manifests in her dreamworld. After realizing this, she indulges herself by drawing that which she desires most: friends and family. Conflict arises when the manifestations come to life fatally flawed. She draws a boyfriend, his legs don’t work. She draws her father, he is blind and stricken with a fever that only a prescription of hammer kills can cure. That’s right, her dreamworld father tries to murder her and her boyfriend with a hammer. I guess he doesn’t approve of her potential mates.

Better than birth control.

The story gets even creepier when she learns that the boyfriend in her fantasy world is a real person, another patient at the hospital she is resting in, and he happens to be in a coma. The feelings they share are real and the perils they face together in the dreamworld have real-world consequences. It is up to the little girl to draw the tools for survival while awake, so that she and her friend can overcome their hardships while dreaming. Without spoiling it for you, because I feel you should see the movie yourself, the ending is bittersweet.

You can link all kinds of metaphors and parabolic attributes to the film, such as: be careful what you wish for; the power of expression; the importance of a family structure; the power of love, and etc.. It has what I think all great stories share: applicability. It is a cute story that speaks to each person a little differently. In the end I was left wanting only DVD quality presentation. Perhaps the movie is too awesome to adequately contain within modern media storage devices. Perhaps I am totally biased. Either way, I am glad I finally got to see Paperhouse and put to bed a wacky series of memories that have plagued me for the past twenty one years.

If the nipples of an eleven year old girl and adolescents making-out doesn’t disturb you too much, check it out. If you can find a non-pirated copy that is.

Love,

Smiley Grimm