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The Life of P

Tag: short films

Succinct Cinema

It’s been around six months since I last rounded up a collection of the best short films I’ve seen recently, so let’s have another. If you missed them, be sure to check out the last set too. As always, point me in the direction of any that you would recommend.

Borrowed Time

Following the release of Wall-E, I considered it evidence of an imminent split in Pixar into a family-friendly team and one dedicated to adult-orientated animation. That it did not happen is, I think, a shame — and perhaps in part to blame for Pixar’s recent reliance on sequels. This out-of-hours project from a few Pixar employees exemplifies what could be achieved, in the story of a sheriff returning to the scene of a painful memory.

Expo

From visual-effects guru Joe Sill, this short about a solo female astro-miner is immediately reminiscent of Duncan Jones’ Moon. It explores choice, regret and the powerful need for cathartic redemption.

The Talk

Broaching the truth in a father-daughter conversation in a diner.

Lost Face

Based on a Jack London story, a fur thief caught by natives must think fast to bargain for his life. As humans, we seek what control we can.

Uncanny Valley

If this is the year that virtual reality starts to become a commodity, here is a film that serves as a timely warning about the social implications of addiction and abuse of such all-consuming technology.

Lookouts

A Kickstarter-funded live-action short based on Penny Arcade’s fantasy world in which young scouts are trained to protect their villages from the creatures in the forests. A troop on their final trial is ambushed by the basilisk they hunt.

Planet Unknown

Having started with a reference to Wall-E, it makes sense to end with this animated short. It is a tonally similar piece about two robots testing for a life-supporting planet. Visually they are a combination of Wall-E and the Mars rovers, and the animators have imbued them with remarkable character that demonstrates a touching friendship.

And I will leave you with the words of Truffaut, as I think each of these shorts serves one or other of his desires:

“Today, I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema. I am not at all interested in anything in between; I am not interested in all those films that do not pulse.”
-François Truffaut, The Films in My Life

The Connection Genre

Paperman

A couple of days ago, Disney uploaded the entirety of their new Oscar-nominated animated short Paperman, which opened screenings of the feature-length Wreck-It Ralph. It is a beautiful six and a half minutes about a chance connection between two office workers with a little swelling Disney magic thrown in by the end. It’s interesting to note that that the impressive 2D style is actually the result of 3D modelling.

The first half of the story may seem rather familiar to long time readers who will have seen the utterly charming live action short Signs — about a similar connection between two office workers in opposite buildings — when I mentioned it a few years back. I am evidently not the only one to make the connection with the video generating a great deal of traffic over the past few days, along with some unwarranted criticism of Paperman for likely taking a little inspiration from it.

Watching the two on my way into work yesterday (other than providing a surprisingly positive boost to my morning) made me realise that, whilst I have developed an ingrained aversion to genre labels, perhaps my favourite genre of films is best described as “Connection”. It’s different to romantic drama or comedy in that there is no reason the connection need be romantic or even limited to humans. The nebulous connection between Bob and Charlotte in Lost in Translation is precisely what I love about the film, whilst the bond that forms gradually, uncertainly between Hiccup and Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon is both stronger and more nuanced than most romcoms I have seen.

The corollary to this sadly unrecognised genre would be the “disconnection” or “failed connections” found in films like Blue Valentine, Le Mepris and even Casablanca as couples’ lives together fragment or as people simply slide past one another without ever quite achieving their collision, planets forever in parallel orbits.

It makes me wonder what other potential genres might exist beyond the standard ones into which we try (and fail) to separate our media entertainment.

Shorts

There will be some substantive posts soon, but in the meantime here are a few short films for your procrastinatory delectation. They’re not necessarily new, but I’ve only recently come across them via Gordon from Multiplex (a webcomic all cinema fans ought to enjoy).

Alma is a beautifully creepy slice of animation from Rodrigo Blaas, formerly of Pixar. Apparently a full-length feature is to be co-directed by Blaas and Guillermo del Toro, the latter suggesting that its eerie vibe should remain intact.

I Met The Walrus is an animated distillation of a much longer interview with John Lennon, conducted by 14-year-old Jerry Levitan in 1969 after managing to get into Lennon’s hotel suite. The short was nominated for an Oscar.

Synesthesia (a word gamers will be hearing a lot in relation to the newly released Child of Eden) is a condition whereby stimulation of one sense causes an involuntary experience in another sensory or cognitive pathway. This short doesn’t shoot for realism but the result is arresting.

Wolverine vs The Hand explains how the entirely unknown Gary Shore ended up on the shortlist to direct the next Wolverine film (The Wolverine, apparently). It’s basically a motion-comic fight sequence but the effect is really rather cool and would be a neat style to adapt for a comicbook film.

Salesman Pete is just surreal fun, in a sort of Invader Zim way. Also, how good was Invader Zim?*

*SPOILER: So good.

"Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has."

(CC) BY-NC 2004-2024 Priyan Meewella

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