Watching something from the “Shorter is Better” program is always a treat. You never know what you are going to expect. This year’s animated shorts compilation is more of a mixed bag however.
Marylin Myller – Mikey Please
Marilyn Miller was the most popular Broadway star of the 1920s and 1930s. She was best known for portraying rags to riches characters, a stark contrast from her personal life of tragedy, alcoholism, deceit, and illness. This short isn’t the story of Marilyn Miller however; it’s the story of Marilyn Myller.
We can definitely see some similarities between the two people. Marilyn Myller imagines herself a god, crafting the world through her own will. In reality she’s just a struggling clay sculpture artist.
The animation is well done and visually interesting. Unfortunately, the story’s theme is too convoluted and conflicting. We see that she is praised by onlookers at an exhibition for smashing a sculpture of her uncle but then there is a voiceover of an African chorus singing about how stupid it is.
The film needs a bit more development in the overall narrative. As it stands, it’s too conflicted and unclear to get any meaning.
Rating: 6/10
365 – Greg McLeod & Myles Leod
“One film, one year, one second a day,” This is the tag line for a short film created by these two brothers. Every second of the film is a different one-second scene completed over the course of a day for all 365 days of 2013. There’s no script or structure; just whatever the artists thought up during that particular day of production, whether it be a dream the night before, something they saw or experienced that day, or just the craziest idea they could come up with.
Despite the sheer absurdity and unstructured style, there’s a lot of charm to this movie. Though there is no continuity between these scenes, each scene on its own feels like one part of a bigger story. For example, there’s one scene where a drummer throws his drumsticks against the ground in frustration and then storms away from his drum set. Did another band member get stuck in traffic before a big gig, did he lose an argument with his band mates about the right key signature for the song they’re composing, or did his favorite team lose the world cup? Who knows, but this scene is just part of the equation. The way these scenes’ storytelling are laid out allows each one to be memorable and engaging.
8/10
A Recipe of Gruel – Sharon Smith
This short tells the tale of a poor old woman trying to gather food. But rather than being told through narration, it is told through a recipe for gruel. The recipe coincides with what is currently happening to the old woman. For example, she is told to travel many miles through the cold wind to the rusty old spigot and wait as the drops slowly fill up the bucket. This shows how something as trivial as following a recipe can be a struggle in an impoverished, oppressed society. But it also shows how resilient the human condition is through its references to the Bible and the old woman’s actions. It’s a very clever and inspiring way of portraying a story that has been repeated many times.
9/10
Coda – Alan Holly
Is there life after death? This short is pretty convinced. It tells the tale of a man who dies after stumbling out of a bar. Even though Death herself persists, he can’t let go of his past life on Earth.
There is a lot to take in for this film. Never the less, the way that this short presents its imagery and symbolism is still entertaining to watch. It is so especially with all of the great colors; all of the rich, warm reds, purples, and dark blues.
8.5/10
White Morning – Paul Barritt
“White Morning” is a stop-motion animated film with 2D paper puppets. It has the aesthetic of a child’s drawing. The story is about five children who commit increasingly dastardly acts of mischief, ranging from provoking a bison at a ranch to standing stark naked in front of girls having a tea party.
The aesthetic would have given a childlike innocence to the piece, but the dark music, creepy child voice-overs, and sporadic editing create a different feel. This clashing of youth naïveté and the demonic elements of the cinematography create a strong sense of anxiety. But instead of this anxiety being riveting or engaging, it ends being exhausting. The climax lasts way too long and just adds all of this irrelevant imagery of warfare and decay without any real context to the story. And at the very end, there’s no real pay-off. The boys don’t get punished for what they did in the climax (although it is implied), and the boys don’t learn any new lessons that change their characters in any way, nothing interesting.
Unfortunately, the lack of subtly and a coherent meaning mixed with irrelevant imagery prevents me from taking this film seriously. This piece of paper needs to be recycled.
5/10
The Missing Scarf – Eoin Duffy
Did you ever read the children’s story “I Want My Hat Back” by John Klassen? This short is pretty much the same story. A squirrel is trying to find his missing scarf and meets his friends along the way. Each friend has a different trouble for the squirrel to console, ranging from the beaver’s fear of his dam breaking to the bear questioning the meaning of life.
This short has a very dark and sarcastic edge to its humor. It presents the sheer torment experienced by each of the characters in a family friendly way. I felt so sorry for these characters but at the same time, they were hilarious.
9/10
“Shorts: Let’s Get Animated” will be playing again on Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. at the Fox-Bay Cinema and on Thursday, October 9 at 2:15 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.