Grief, politics, community and family are all themes found in this years five Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts. By varying greatly in style and delivery, this years shorts show immense diversity in their story telling, while all displaying introspection of the human condition.
There is unintentional likeness in experiences portrayed in this years shorts to those felt under the 2020 Covid pandemic. Films like “Yes-People” (Já-fólkið), “If Anything Happens I Love You”, and “Burrow”, that take place in confined settings and greatly emphasized human interaction, are reminiscent of our enforced isolation. While films “Opera” and “Genius Loci” focus on human’s perception of self, and how time can allude us; ideas easily sympathized with after a year of anxiety over the unknown.
Opera
(Not yet available as an independent stream.)
Erick Oh’s “Opera” is a timeless allegorical story. The nine minute short manages to convey numerous independent narratives, while accomplishing the ambitious feat of showcasing the inevitable cycle of creation and destruction.
The animation takes place within a prism. The innards of the prism are made up of multiple frames, each filled with people and objects.
While the film does not run lineally, rather paces from the top of the prism to the bottom, and back up, the viewer is shown how time effects life.
Each frame works as its own vignette to tell an independent story, though there comes a point where each story is interrupted by the effects of life in other frames.
The direct and indirect consequences of actions being made in each frame demonstrates how all things are interconnected through time and space. The characters in the film all live within, and fall victim to, capitalistic dictation and ignorant consumption. They take part in the making of history, art and culture. They indulge in gluttony; food and sex. They are doomed by religion, politics and economics; and die by the hands of the prison system, poverty, terrorism and war.
From birth to death, and peace to chaos, through divinity and destruction; “Opera” works in limbo to showcase the all encompassing aspects of life.
Genius Loci
(Available for streaming on Vimeo.)
Chaos is unleashed in “Genius Loci” as lead character Reine begins to disassociate from reality to find a sense of oneness.
Adrien Merigeau’s abstract water colour animation depicts one’s nuanced experience and personal perception by colliding ideas with images in an endless rhythmic pattern. Reine’s complex consciousness is externalized poetically as figures morph into each other creating new meaning; sound waves birth shape, flying paper bends and crinkles into playful dogs like live action origami, and those who express anger burst into fire or change to a beast.
Reine knows that what initially appears as overwhelmingly nonsensical will eventually become vividly whole. She explains; “All around me, I find chaos. It’s always there. It just changes in scales. You can’t stop it. You can only watch it. Listen to it. It transforms things. People, ideas. It’s a movement. It’s alive. And it shines, like some sort of guide.”
While she is lost in her mind, she finds grounding and direction by all things she encounters. From her home, onto city streets, and into a church, she is drawn to act by the endless commotion and intrinsic flow of life around her.
Yes-People (Já-fólkið)
(Available for streaming on Vimeo.)
Loneliness, ecstasy, annoyance, and satisfaction are all encompassed by one word “Já” (Yes) in Gísli Darri Halldórsson’s film “Já-fólkið” (Yes-People). At its core the animated short is about habit and routine, about feeling alone in company.
“Já-fólkið” follows the day in the life of three small families, all who reside in the same apartment complex. Each character carries out their mundane daily routines on their own, only briefly interacting with one another. It is in these short exchanges that the audience sees the power of the word “Já” in all of its diverse expressions.
Halldórsson spoke about the inspiration and the story behind the use of the word “Já” in his semi-silent film for an interview with Animation Magazine, explaining; “I was explaining to my Irish friends – much to their glee – the Icelandic word “já” (yes) and its capacity to contain a plethora of meanings depending on intonation. […] So, I started writing this mosaic story where the characters were all in their own way stuck in a loop (good or bad). They could only say one word and sing/play one song.”
There is a bleak dryness in the stories tone, as characters make way through their daily practice it is clear that more than their bodies working in limbo, their minds are also confined by their routines. Though their tasks differ, from tapping on a keyboard, flipping through a thick book of Proust, shovelling endless snow and drowning oneself in alcohol, that the characters are hyperaware of their loneliness whenever their loops are interjected with another character’s.
If Anything Happens I Love You
(Available for streaming on Netflix.)
The colour blue haunts the minds and bodies of a mother and father as they are forced to remember and confront the tragedy of losing a child in Netflix’s 2D animation, “If Anything Happens I Love You” directed by Will McCormack and Michael Govier.
The aftermath of a school shooting is shown through a pair of grieving parents who are left behind to live in a robotic state. By losing their child they subsequently lose their sense of self.
As these two characters lethargically roam within the confinements of their home, the viewer is shown their inner selves as the character’s shadows. The shadows move around each parent attempting to comfort their physical self, as well as have them interact with one another and guide them towards positive remembrance.
The parents are only broken away from their traumatic state when they are reminded of their daughter through traces she left in their home; a tiny t-shirt, a slab of paint on their wall, and the sound of her music loudly pouring her memory throughout her room.
Other than the film’s reoccurring blue, the film is shaded in dull, lifeless colours—except for the colours of the American flag. The flag stands above the door way of the young girl’s school, vibrantly screaming in their red’s and blue’s; claiming blame perched atop the entrance to the children’s doom.
The all-female team of animator’s who created this rich dialogue-free film not only crafted a story that evokes sympathy and alarm, but also transcends cinema as they joined forces with nonprofit organization “Everytown for Gun Safety” to raise gun violence awareness.
Burrow
(Available for streaming on Disney+.)
The 2D Pixar animated short “Burrow”, written and directed by Madeline Sharafian, tells the story of a young rabbit seeking refuge, a place to call home.
The film follows this rabbit as they dig into the ground seeking space to claim as their own. We watch as the rabbit realizes that regardless of the direction they choose, their task will inevitability be interfered with by other animals occupying their desired space.
With each failed attempt at discovering free land the rabbit becomes more disappointed and defeated. As a result of overcrowding the rabbit’s resolve is to dig themselves so deeply that they hit rock bottom.
The desire for personal space, and luxury living not only creates an inhospitable living environment, but also promotes introversion and loneliness. It is only when the rabbit asks another animal for assistance that they are able to truly resolve their issue, and in turn the issue of overcrowding.
The virtually silent film works metaphorically on multiple fronts, in showing how over population can lead to abuse of land, the importance of community, and to not fear asking for help.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.