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Initially coming across as a nod to traditional Hollywood dance imagery with a cheeky feminist edge, High Fidelity takes its visual inspiration from glamour girls of decades past such as Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple. However, the fact that it's animated to a song penned by Richard O'Brien and sung by Little Nell, both of whom had recently made their name via cult stage hit The Rocky Horror Show, correctly suggests that this is far from a straightforward nostalgic tribute. The animation technique is deceptively simple, the dancing figures occasionally reduced to plain lines in a manner that foreshadows Erica Russell's Feet of Song (1988). However, while the later film was more concerned with exploring pure colour, rhythm and movement, Starkiewicz is interested in the sexual impulses underlying formalised dance. The female dancer's wayward nipple frequently pops out of her costume as she attempts to snare assorted male partners, and continues to do so even after she's donned a masculine suit. Polish-born, Australia-based Antoinette Starkiewicz made High Fidelity after training as an animator at the London Film School (where she made her first animated film, Puttin' On The Ritz, in 1974). She returned to Australia shortly afterwards, where she has continued to work in animation, design and fine art. Michael Brooke
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Complete film (3:37)
