Asphalt Watches

What happens when the two artist friends Seth Scriver and Shayne Ehman hitchhike aimlessly across Canada one summer at the beginning of the millennium and then, after many years of work, transpose it into an animation film? In “Asphalt Watches,” the two animators and illustrators from Toronto capture their crazy trip as seen through the eyes of their two animated alter egos Skeleton Hat and Bucktooth Cloud. At first glance, the two protagonists might ap- pear somewhat strange, but compared to the drivers who pick them up along the way, they almost seem like normalos again. By reversing the perspective, “Asphalt Watches” disproves the cliché of the dangerous hitchhiker. In this film by Seth Scriver and Shayne Ehman, there should be much more concern for the two getting the lift. The protagonists and their filmic mirror images Skeleton Hat and Bucktooth Cloud experience a journey full of hilarious and amazing encounters, replete with rapping dogs, songs about pasta, pizza and hot dogs.
The narrative style determines the pace in “Asphalt Watches,” a South Parkesque style animated 2-D road movie set to psychedelic lo-fi music. The long, dialogue-free scenes bring alive the vastness of Canada, only to be interrupted by sudden scene changes and conversations that frequently begin and/or end with “Fuck off!”. Scriver and Ehman’s unconventional creativity extended further than the film’s content, however: instead of financing their project with the customary subsidies, they used a crowdfunding platform. (pe)