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Cinequest Shorts Program 4: Animated World

If you’re in the San Jose area, hopefully you already realize that the Cinequest 15 Film Festival has started. I blogged a bit about it last year. As she did last year, Ealasaid has kindly devoted a humongous chunk of her time to create a time/location grid of the show times, which is always useful, and has her movie reviews up at her Cineblog

Anyway, I just watched Shorts Program 4: Animated World, and wow, that was an excellent collection of animated shorts. This was the first time I’ve watched the animated shorts (last year I just watched Mindbenders), so I can’t say how it compares with past years’ collections, but all I can say is that every single one of these was a gem. It plays again this Monday, March 7th, at Camera 12 at 7PM, and I highly recommend it.

Here’s a rundown of some of my reactions (and this time, I did not drag the wife along, as she had meetings all day). In my opinion, these were the best three:

9

Directed by Shane Acker, computer animation, 11 min.

Note, his above website didn’t seem to work in Firefox for me, so try IE instead if you have problems.

This was my personal favorite of the entire collection (although it was really close). The exquisite computer animation and haunting score really immerses you in a fantastic miniature futuristic dystopia. Although there is no dialogue, the figures are so expressive that you are really invested in the outcome of the hunter vs. hunted plotline which is also quite moving.

Note that the obviously talented Acker also worked on Lord of the Rings, animating the Mumakils — the huge elephants. You can read out more about the film at AnimWatch.

Guard Dog

Directed by Bill Plympton, traditional animation, 5 min.

Bill Plympton. ’Nuff said.

Okay, who am I kidding? I can never leave it at that. Anyway, I was rolling on the floor during this one. It’s about a dog being walked who has a very vivid imagination and sees threats in every little thing, picturing ridiculous and absolutely hilarious scenarios of how they might kill his beloved master (think of that scene in Amelie where she pictures the possible reasons why Nino hasn’t shown up).

It was nominated for an Oscar this year but did not win. Why? Well, it lost to…

Ryan

Directed by Chris Landreth, computer animation, 14 min.

Yes, this was the Oscar Winner for Best Short Film (Animated), and it was well-deserved (these top three films were all about equally good). It’s a haunting retelling of the animators real-life interview with trail-blazing Canadian animator, Ryan Larkin, who helped inspire Landreth’s own work. Larkin, who was an Oscar-nominated animator in the 60’s and early 70’s, has seen his life spiral into drug-abuse and is now panhandling the streets of Montreal, refusing to create any more art for fear if it being ripped off.

The characters in the film switch from being photo-realistically depicted to being shown with their life scars depicted as surrealistic damage to their bodies, sometimes with huge entire chunks of flesh completely missing. The disturbing visuals are broken up with samples of Larkin’s own florid hand-drawn animation, but the film is dominated by Larkin’s real-life tragic story, and is anchored by actual audiotape of Landreth’s interview with him.

Thankfully, art sometimes impacts reality. After watching Ryan win the Oscar from his favorite bar, the attention has helped him turn around his life and he’s now returning to his art. You can read more about the film at this Creative Mac story by Phil Scanlon and Keiko Beatie. Also, note that the Cinequest program misspelled Landreth’s last name with an ‘i’ instead of an ‘e’.

Those were the best films, but the rest of them were all really good as well. Here’s a few words on each one:

Herman: The Legal labrador

Directed by David Blumenstein, computer-assisted comic-book style animation, 20 min.

Yes, a dog lawyer. And a cute dog, at that. At first glance, this is a one-joke film. But it’s got a real story (a murder mystery), and hey, it really milks that joke for a lot of laughs, and has more surprises up its sleeve. No, the dog is not like Brian from Family Guy. He just barks, and people understand him (a lot of dialogue is the kind of exchange you’d see between Lassie and Timmy) and treat him just like a real lawyer, but just when the joke seems like it gets really old, they treat him like a cute little doggy. Perfect comic timing, and very well done all-around. Do be sure to check out the web site. They even have a complete back story which is also available in a comic book.

Spacer

Directed by Guy Roland, digital photographs, 3 min.

No plot or characters, this is a film all about imagery, as it consists entirely of digital photographs of various architectural structures. No video. Just photographs, taken over the space of a few years and stitched together into a visually stunning montage. For example, he photographs a brick wall, and then the same wall, but one brick over, so it appears as the wall is shimmering. He does the same with railings, fences, and bridges, sometimes switching to more distant shots of buildings.

It has to be seen to be believed. And as it’s accompanied with an equally hypnotic electronic score, it’s best-viewed when on drugs (which I was, heh). The trippy effect kinda reminded me of Frank Film or Loon Dreaming. My one complaint was that it wasn’t always clear where your focus was supposed to be (something he says will be addressed in his next film).

You can watch the film online at mooncruise* magazine (requires Flash) on issue 13, and there’s also some more information about how he created the film (all of the photos were shot on foot, although he sometimes used rollerblades to get from point to point). And as Mason comments below, can also be viewed at the Zoom In Awards (requires Quicktime). I had better luck there, actually.

Oedipus

Directed by Jason Wishnow, stop-motion, 8 min.

A 35mm epic production of the classic Greek tale of Oedipus, complete with lavish sets, hand-sewn costumes, a dramatic soundtrack, and top-notch sound and special effects (yes, ILM worked on this). It’s absolutely brilliant. The cinematic soundtrack and top-notch acting (we’re talking Shakespearian here) really sell the piece.

And oh, did I mention Oedipus is played by a potato?

Ritterschlag (Knight Games)

Directed by Sven Martin, computer animation, 6 min.

Amusing and cute twist on knight vs. dragon theme. And yes, some breathtaking visuals. Do note that the above website gives away the twist.

Spirit of Gravity

Directed by David Pace and Victor Bellomo, collaged photographs, 6 min.

A fantastical, inspiring, and amusing musical number featuring… a singing Friedrich Nietzsche. Inspired by “Thus Spoke Zarathrusta.” I wish I could say more about it, but it kinda defies description. That, plus I haven’t read any Nietzsche.

The Wedge

Directed by Curt Stewart, 3 min.

Inventive and highly entertaining story with a hilarious ending… told entirely with stock footage. Interestingly, he discovered all of the film’s music on the web, as they were all licensed via Creative Commons (as is this blog).

The Balloon

Directed by Satinder Singh, 8:35.

Beautiful, captivating, and suspenseful story of a mother and young daughter and a runaway balloon and a kidnapper, told with wire-frame characters over a luscious watercolor background. I kinda wanted to see what happened to the mom at the end, though.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Directed by Lee Lanier, computer animation, 1:40.

A group of short visual gags followed by the one-liners that inspired them, but that doesn’t really do justice to it, as it’s really funny and inventive, and with political commentary, too! It was a great way to start the whole set.

Egg

Directed by Benh Zeitlin, stop-motion, 9 min.

A truly surrealistic (almost to the point of absurdism) and visually amazing reinterpretation of Moby Dick. Except from inside an egg on a conveyor belt on its way to be eaten by chicken-like creatures. It’s also quite funny, albeit a bit gross (but the artist had to go through much worse in making it).

All in all, a terrific group of films, and I liked every single one of them. Be sure to catch them on Monday night at Camera 12.

Unfortunately, they did not show Tale of Bad Luck, directed by Brad Peyton, and I’m sure there’s an interesting tale of bad luck behind the reason why.

March 05, 2005 08:42 PM in Film | Permalink