In the animated independent film Mack On, the street-worn Winston (Gabriel Caron) leads a life defined by hardship. No matter his efforts, he remains entangled in the city’s seedy underbelly—a world where drugs, violence, and poverty permeate his every interaction. Burdened by his own infidelities, Winston is thrust into a moral quagmire when he must risk everything to save a young woman named Vanity (Rose Gourgi).
Director Apostolos Panagiotis Kouroumalis—better known by the pen name Toly A.K.—is a renowned artist, animator, and Cannes Film Festival winner. His singular art style, which can be described as fragmented and visceral, is on full display in Mack On. While the film follows the hard-boiled formula of a lead trying to escape the city’s dark side, Toly subverts these traditional tropes through his fractured lens, imbuing the atmospheric narrative with a surreal, non-linear energy.
“… Winston must risk everything to save a young woman named Vanity …”
Leading the cast is Gabriel Caron as Winston. Caron voices the character with a singular magnetism, effortlessly shifting from the stoic grit of a classic hard-boiled lead into rhythmic, poetic prose. The result feels like a visceral piece of performance art that would have resonated deeply within a 1960s Beat coffeehouse. Through Caron’s performance, we witness a tormented soul defined by a fatalistic worldview. Adding a layer of dark comedy to this melancholy is Winston’s talking firearm, which serves as a condescending voice inside his head. Voiced with a perfect deadpan by Zach Radford, the weapon acts as a sardonic spectator to Winston’s spiraling mental state. Whether it’s the mocking reminder of “You’re losing it, pal” or a biting critique of his choices, the gun’s irreverent taunts provide a sharp contrast to Winston’s own internal struggle, grounding the film’s surreal elements in a grim reality.
With a narrative as fragmented as Toly’s eclectic art style, Mack On is an esoteric odyssey. True fans of Toly’s work will be intrigued by the various stories that make up the skeleton of this screenplay, while newcomers can still appreciate the journey for its labyrinthine nature. It is the type of film that serves as a singular discovery—a hidden gem found while treasure hunting on cable TV after midnight. Sure to be a favorite for fans of offbeat adult animation and abstract art alike, Mack On is a film whose avant-garde animation is imbued with a phantasmagoric quality, resulting in a cerebral experience that is as disjointed as it is resonant.
"…avant-garde animation imbued with a phantasmagoric quality..."
