Jason Sondhi
Rescued from what the filmmakers describe as “internet cold storage”, today’s featured short is an unexpected treat. From S/W alum Dan Ojari (Slow Derek) and prior “Short of the Year” winner Mikey Please (The Eagleman Stag) comes a film we weren’t sure we’d see again—a 2019 stop-motion proof-of-concept that has languished in the uncaring void known as “development” for going on five years.
In a parallel dimension this short, which was co-produced with Blink Industries (the production company that successfully brought Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared to UK television) would have been adapted into a series or feature and served as the duo’s mainstream breakout. Instead, in our reality, the pair moved to Aardman Animations and garnered great acclaim for their Oscar-nominated 2021 Netflix short, Robin Robin. With the recent news that the Robin Robin cinematic universe is set to expand, tying up the animators’ schedules for the foreseeable future, Ojari and Please reached out to us about finally setting Alan the Infinite free.
An escaped particle from a lab sets the scene for the story.
We’re pleased to help the world discover the immensely charming world the filmmakers have cooked up. Following a young and nervous intern (voiced by Ojari) the film is part dead-end office comedy and part youthful romance, with some extradimensional forces mixed in. Alan is obsessed/anxious with the prospect of adulting which manifests in vocalizing his thoughts like a runaway train. Fortunately, this is charming to his fellow newbie, Prea, whom he quickly develops a crush on. However, while taking on his first office responsibilities as a “box courier”, Alan stumbles upon an unstable particle that has escaped a lab. A magical quark, anything that makes contact with this mysterious phenomenon will turn into something else. Alan attempts to wrangle the element and unpredictable hijinks ensue.
Continuing Please’s fascination with fabricating stop-motion models from unusual materials (The Eagleman Stag was famously sculpted from couch cushion foam) Alan the Infinite is made from wood. While the grain is noticeable in closeups of the puppets, in motion the novelty is harder to discern, as the excellent production design and smooth motion of the animation, paired with digitally added 2D facial expressions, quickly cause you to ignore the medium of creation and instead immerse yourself in the world of the film. More discernable therefore are the themes Please and Ojari are promulgating, as they juxtapose the concept of unchanging sameness (the lamination process that preserves a document forever) versus the limitless possibilities represented by the escaped particle. Alan is perhaps over-eager to lock himself into the drudgery of working life to prove his “adultness”. Should he not be more embracing of the unpredictability of life and open himself to a more expansive view of his potential?
Alan hunting the mischievous particle.
As a proof-of-concept, the film cuts off semi-abruptly, which slightly diminishes the film’s pleasure as a stand-alone. Please and Ojari, talking to us after the film’s premiere at Sundance London, mentioned that the project was envisioned as a series, and within that context, Alan the Infinite is more than effective—it establishes appealing characters within an expertly designed world and introduces an enticing MacGuffin that promises to continue providing entertaining chaos. Reconnecting with the pair for this release they confirm that they conceived the short as “the first of a series of shorts entitled ‘The Fax Machine Fables’, an anthology of stories about metaphysical wonders spilling into the mundane workplace,” and that Alan serves as the throughline between all the stories, adding that eventually “Alan and Prea will escape the office, the summer placement; they’ll break out and run free into the big, wide, ever-changing world.” Rewatching the film for the first time since it showcased our SW:IRL live event in 2019, I am reacquainted with the bittersweet sensation of wanting to see more, and thus today’s release has a certain melancholy aspect to it via the recognition that the project has been placed on the back-burner. Here’s to the hope that one day we will continue to track the adventures of Alan into the infinite, and until then, go Robin Robin!