Review by Frank Plowright
Ash and Sloane both draw to a standard high enough to attend an animation course through the summer of 1999. Despite being sisters their personalities are very different, with Ash confident and Sloane insecure. They’re used by Faith Erin Hicks as starting points into the structure of an animation course with a specific Canadian slant and what the expectations of such a course were back before widespread digital animation.
The presumption is of Hicks mirroring her own experiences as she transmits the lecturers and the exercises students complete. Whether or not these remain relevant as AI swallows the animator’s trade is a question to be asked, but for anyone interested in honing their own talents the insights are surely invaluable as they learn from Hicks demonstrating skill and variety in showing how several students animate a bouncing ball. It’s also a love letter to the early Studio Ghibli animations, not commercially available in North America at the time. Hicks emphasises their effect by immersing the cast in the backgrounds. The switches of style to include comics and different animations provide visual variety, but her basic cartooning is also wonderful.
For a long while it seems as if Inbetweens is going to be an instruction manual with the lessons separated by a few moments of drama, but the personalities gradually push themselves forward to form a slice of life tale about teens finding themselves as they learn. Strength of character and persistence are identified as needed within animation, but they have a wider application in life.
An important lesson passed on is that some lecturers can be complete jerks, and if you’re good enough to get a place at a noted art school, you’re good enough to progress beyond it.
While this has the charm and artistic elegance of any project by Hicks, it’s decompressed and lacks a strong narrative focus, with some themes not developed. A racist character is introduced, but never called out and while the class jerk is, their presence so fleeting it diminishes the result. It leaves Inbetweens as good in making worthwhile points, but never wholly compelling.
