Art Spiegelman's acclaimed graphic novel In the Shadow of No Towers has been turned into an animated film with a voiceover by John Turturro and music by guitarist/composer Marco Cappelli. Spiegelman, having escaped the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero on the morning of 9/11 with his young daughter, crafted his "survivor's tale" as his way of coping with the attacks and their odious political aftermath. A DVD version will be released next month, and judging by the looks of this trailer, it's a fascinating piece.
Cappelli approached Spiegelman about adapting the book into a multimedia performance several years ago, and recalls, "He was very nice from the very beginning, but he said, 'Don’t expect me to like it—I don’t like anything, even what I do.' " Cappelli enlisted animator Anne Rothschild and graphic artist Maria Isabel Gouverneur to bring Spiegelman’s panels to life, and crafted a score with his trio Syntax Error that incorporates contemporary classical, avant-garde jazz, and references to cartoon music.
The hour-long adaptation premiered in Italy in 2008 with actor Enzo Salomone narrating, and was performed in New York in 2009 and 2010 on September 11th with different readers. But Turturro is the captivating voice you'll hear on the DVD, which comes out September 6th. Cappelli, if you're interested, is also gigging around town throughout Autumn; next month he'll be at the Local 269 on September 4th with the Brad Faberman Large Ensemble, and at The Stone September 22 with the Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio.
