The worm’s-eye view

After I read a book, I sometimes read the reviews to confirm my own ideas. In the December 4th New Yorker Elizabeth Kolbert writes about Probuditi!, the newest picture book by Chris Van Allsburg.

…as is the case with other Van Allsburg books—“Jumanji,” “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick,” even “The Polar Express”—there’s something sinister and adult about the whole uncanny apparatus. In Van Allsburg’s masterly sepia-toned drawings, the action always seems to be observed from the wrong angle.

Van Allsburg is influenced by Twilight Zone episodes and comic books. (From the interviews I've been reading lately, it seems that about half of all American illustrators are influenced by comic books.) And comic books are influenced by cinema. The "the wrong angles" in Probuditi! remind me of ominous Citizen Kane stills. Orson Welles shot from such a low angle that his film sets had to have ceilings.

(Thank you Kyleigh Turner)