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Rocks in My Pockets Review

By David Kempler

A Pocketful of Depression

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Signe Baumane was born in Auce, Latvia, in 1964. In 1989, she began working as an animator for Dauka Animation Studio before relocating to New York City, where she worked with the legendary Bill Plympton, as well as other animators. Baumane is a multi-talented artist, with success in painting, sculpture, and as an illustrator for children's books.

"Rocks in My Pockets" is a semi-autobiographical tale that tells the story of three generations of her family. Which parts are true are known by Baumane and, for her purposes here, it is unimportant what is true and what is fantasy.

There are two threads going on simultaneously. The first is an examination of her family and its idiosyncrasies, and in particular, various members dealing with depression and other issues. At the same time, Baumane follows the back-and-forth of Latvia's role as a land that gets invaded over-and-over. She is primarily concerned with personal suffering, but makes a point of showing that the outside forces of politics and culture weigh heavily on the rights of the people of Latvia, and in particular, its women. This is a decidedly women's rights movie, albeit, with very little preaching.  

Early on, we see Baumane's grandmother, Anna, wading into a shallow river with the intention of killing herself. She does not succeed in her quest and Bauman lets us know that Anna had an idea how to do it, but had not come up with a clear plan. According to Baumane, Anna's mistake was not weighing down her pockets with rocks to help her sink and drown. This dark view of the ladies in her family tree carries forward throughout the generations, up until present-day.

Surprisingly, "Rocks in My Pockets" is not overwhelmingly, oppressively depressing. Numerous dashes of humor ensure that we don't all sink into a quicksand of despair. Another factor that helps is the unusually simple animation that nevertheless works beautifully. Her use of color is often bright and almost cheery, standing in direct contrast to the depression of her characters. Bauman serves as the narrator for everything, even voicing the characters, who hardly ever actually speak. It's difficult to imagine "Rocks in My Pockets" finding a large audience, but it may rock the world of some of you.

What did you think?

Movie title Rocks in My Pockets
Release year 2014
MPAA Rating NR
Our rating
Summary Signe Baumane's semi-autobiographical, animated view of the depression that has plagued her female ancestors and herself, is surprisingly light because of its black humor.
View all articles by David Kempler
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