By Ben Wright
The Savannah Film Festival showed seven short animated films, all marked by black comedy and intriguing animation, and, on the whole, showcased what animation can explore, both emotionally and thematically.
“Gerald’s Last Day”
The first film was “Gerald’s Last Day,” directed by Shel and Justin Rach. This standard claymation depicts a rather unfortunate-looking dog on the day he is scheduled for termination, as he tried to change his appearance to be adopted by the cast of characters that show up, to no avail.
This film explores nothing new, and offers a standard, mostly-silent story with animation that is visually similar “Wallace and Gromit.” The film itself is mediocre, and its jokes standard.
“The Mouse That Soared”
“The Mouse That Soared,” however, redeemed my first impression of the short film showcase. This computer animation, directed by Kyle Bell, is a short, five-minute flashback of a flying circus mouse’s beginnings, after being rescued by a scatterbrained but loving bird couple.
The animation itself is gorgeous and unique, especially considering the standard animation styles we are used to. The jokes range from slapstick to macabre, satisfying both the child and cynic in everyone, and the film itself succeeds, both as a comedy piece and a heartwarming story about acceptance and identity.
“Pigeon: Impossible”
“Pigeon: Impossible,” directed by Lucas Martell, is perhaps the most mainstream of the short films shown. Its animation is reminiscent of Dreamworks, except it’s actually funny and has a complete story arc in its six minute running time. In it, a novice CIA agent in possession of a nuclear briefcase battles a pigeon that gets trapped inside.
The film is pretty standard, as spy movies go, except, of course, the main opponent is a pigeon. There are nods to the genre, from the music to the weaponry, and the film itself is a satisfying morsel: nothing too groundbreaking, but not bad either.
“I Am So Proud of You”
In contrast to the light fare of the rest of the films, Don Hertzfeldt’s “I Am So Proud of You,” is an absurdist, existential exploration of life and death. The second in his “Everything Will Be OK” series, the film depicts a man, Bill, who is recovering from an unnamed but deadly disease, as he reflects on his family history and the nature of time and life itself.
The animation is mainly Hertzfeldt’s wobbling stick figures, except everything is presented in claustrophobic white squares on a black background. Hertzfeldt brings in traditional film, photographs and homemade special effects as the film verges on the psychotic and philosophical. The humor is as black as the slate the characters appear on. The audience kept laughing the whole time, but at times it felt almost painful.
A perfect example of Hertzfeldt’s humor is when the deadpan narrator describes Bill’s great aunt’s death: “She died at the age of eight, after contracting yellow fever, and catching on fire.” As the film progresses, its philosophy gets more and more bleak and the animation gets more and more jumbled. Hertzfeldt’s film is a perfect showcase of the possibilities of animation beyond slapstick and traditional movie fare.
“Chicory ‘N’ Coffee”
In the echoing silence of the certainty of our own deaths, Hertzfeldt’s film was followed by a Slovenian film called “Chicory ‘n’ Coffee,” based off of a traditional Slovenian song and directed by Dusan Kastelic. While the story itself was so-so (a wife replaces her husband’s coffee with chicory to save money), the animation overpowered it. All of the characters looked as if they were carved out of wood (in a good way), and the detail present was astounding. The narration bursts into song at several points, but not enough to be annoying. All in all, I couldn’t tell what to make of this film. The animation and story were just not enough to make me like it, but I couldn’t dislike it either.
“Skylight”
Next was a Canadian mockumentary public service announcement, “Skylight,” directed by David Baas, about the dangers of holes in the ozone layer, depicted here as beams of light that shine down and roast animals into whole, cooked chickens. While the first time this happened was unexpected and funny, the very short film uses the same joke over and over without offering anything else, resulting in a short film with a lot of wasted potential.
“Horn Dog”
The last short that was shown was “Horn Dog,” a more traditional 2-D animation that looks like it was animated using colored pencils. The film, directed by Bill Plympton, depicts the misadventures of a lovestruck, rather ugly dog trying to woo a female. The film is an absurd romp as the dog fights off everything standing in the way between him and his love, and takes a hilarious, macabre turn that is completely unexpected.
Final Take
Several of the films depict a main character trying to achieve something while trying, and failing, multiple times (“Gerald’s Last Day, “The Mouse That Soared”), but “Horn Dog” is perhaps the funniest and most successful, a satisfying end to a gamut of different short films.
The shorts will be shown again at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 4
at Trustees Theater.
