Surreal
The Big Empty
Monday, July 14th, 2008dir: Lisa Chang & Newton Thomas Sigel, 21 min—You knew it was coming—a film from the YouTube Screening Room—well, it’s here, The Big Empty. It’s part of the second round of films from the Screening Room (4 new films every 2 weeks). While most of the attention has been around last year’s Academy Award nominated […]
Muto
Sunday, June 1st, 2008by Blu, 7min—Often an old story makes a splash when it’s told in a new way, given new context, or played out on a larger scale. Muto does all of these. Here, the familiar morph animation takes on a new face where characters animate across the real-life streets and buildings of Buenos Aires.
Blu, a street […]
There is Only One Sun
Monday, May 5th, 2008dir: Wong Kar Wai, 7:45—As we have proven with many of the recommendations on this site, being famous is no prerequisite to making a fine short film. Indeed since there are few proven paths to monetization, short film is usually either a playground for the experimental, or a proving ground for the up and coming. […]
A Journey Across Grandmother
Saturday, March 29th, 2008Meghana Bisineer, 5:21—Having purchased a new iPod recently I recognise there is beauty to be found in economy and abridgement. Meghana Bisineer’s six minute movie, A Journey Across Grandmother, delivers just these qualities. Its story is a touching one, the relationship of an infant girl with her revered, dying grandmother. Events unfold over the summer […]
And She Stares Longingly at What She Has Lost
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008Phillip Van, 2:31—I spend a lot of time, perhaps more than could reasonably be considered healthy, trolling around webland looking for forms of visual entertainment to while away the day, so when I come across something that’s completely new to me but has been hiding in the open for a while it has the unsettling […]
Le Paysagiste/Mindscape
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Jacques Drouin, 7:31—Both this week and last, we have decided to hook you up with exemplary films that also happen to live at two of the finer resources for animation on the web. Last week with Ah, L’amour, Hertzfeldt was brought to computer screens via The Animation Show, the web presence of the venerable traveling […]
On Your Mark
Sunday, November 11th, 2007dir: Hayao Miyazaki, 6:31—A while ago, I reviewed She and Her Cat, a short film by a man sometimes called the “next” Miyazaki. Well this time we’ve got something from the man himself, On Your Mark.
Technically it’s not a short film, it’s a music video from 1994 for the popular Japanese pop duo Chage and […]
Abigail
Monday, November 5th, 2007dir: Tony Comley, 6:23—A beautiful string of poetic moments, Abigail takes us on a ride through the uncontrollable random madness of desperation. We open with a burning jet set on a nose-dive course to certain despair. A figure sits quietly—troubled by the photo of a lost lover. He slowly makes his way toward the front […]
The Owl
Sunday, July 29th, 2007Click on image to watch film
dir: Emmanuel Ho, 2:46—Deep, dark and beautifully disturbing, The Owl, a music video for I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, is a perfectly constructed moment of desperation. Tied down at the ankle, a frantic crow struggles to reach freedom as pop culture’s lipstick and fast food containers fly past. […]