Short of the Week

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Sci-Fi Luke Saunders

The Fisherman

Set in a Tokyo-esque alternate reality, the film follows the life of two strangers as they unknowingly become entangled in a fisherman’s life long obsession.

Play
Sci-Fi Luke Saunders

The Fisherman

Set in a Tokyo-esque alternate reality, the film follows the life of two strangers as they unknowingly become entangled in a fisherman’s life long obsession.

The Fisherman

Directed By Luke Saunders
Produced By Pixel
Made In Australia

With a stunning design aesthetic characterized by its simple, flat, style, and beautifully garish color palette, the teaser for Luke Saunder’s short, The Fisherman, caused quite a stir on Vimeo last year. Now, many months later, the film is finally unveiled to worldwide online audiences as the latest premiere from the sci-fi shorts platform DUST

A simple, yet somewhat opaque story, the film’s official description describes the film’s short, 4min long plot thusly: “The Fisherman is set in a neo-tokyo cityscape where electricity is a source of life for a diverse eco-system of mollusc like creatures. A late devoted scientist of these life forms has passed his life’s work on to his daughter, along with one part of his most prized catch. The other part, a mystical electric fish, has eluded him his entire life. An opportune discovery of this rare creature by a human inhabitant instigates an unusual mating ceremony, spawning a surge of life that traverses the gap between this life and the next.”

The description is valuable, as the dialogue-free short can be a bit obtuse, and Saunder’s appealing character designs are not well equipped at conveying expository information. While the mechanisms of the plot lead to a couple of inspiring moments, the real star of the short is Saunder’s art, a pop-future, sci-fi vision, filtered through an aesthetic reminiscent of Late Night Work Club. Saunders, a member of the Melbourne creative design studio Pixel, showcased his talents earlier in the year with his Staff Picked promo for Australia’s prestigious Pause Fest, a stunning piece that simultaneously showcased the breadth of his design interests, yet, when viewed in tandem with The Fisherman, evidences an artist with a firm grasp of his voice and style. 

A relatively short pick, there isn’t much to lose by giving this a viewing. If intricate, emotional narratives in-depth are your cup ‘o tea, you may be flummoxed, but if you’re one of our many fans who love seeing engaging and fresh independent animation in the short form, you’ll find much to like in The Fisherman.