International Animation I, 72 minutes

 

A collection of shorts from countries around the world. In order of appearance:

 

Le Grand Content, directed by Clemens Kogler and Karo Szmit is from Austria. This film was a collection of graphs and charts explaining how things are tied together. Logical and nonsensical items are combined to show both the relevance and irrelevance to our daily lives. At four minutes in length, this was a cute little item. 

 Three trees out of 5

 

The Mousetrap (Gee-dut), directed by Woon Han is from South Korea. Not realizing that this was from South Korea, I thought it was from Japan. This was because the look of the animation reminded me of Vampire Hunter D. The opening shot is of a train yard, with lots of mousetraps. Then, the scene switches to a subway car. All the people are mice, going to work, or shopping, etc. A moth-like creature comes into the car, and the mice try to avoid it. As it gets close to a young boy’s cat, the cat leaps into the air to catch it, and collides with a mouse that’s sweating profusely. Upon collision, the mouse explodes (literally), and his ribcage wreaks havoc with the rest of the car. The look was really cool, but I didn’t particularly care for the film as a whole. 

Three trees out of 5

 

Bendito Machine, directed by Jossie Malis is from Spain. It’s the story about two primitive villages, and the religions they worship. One village is destroyed by the other, and a new system of religion comes into being. The new religion leads the village to become corrupt, and causes destruction from which no-one recovers. I didn’t like this one very much. 

One tree and a bush out of 5

 

Madame Tutli-Putli, directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski is from Canada. The story of a woman, who gets on a train, and during her voyage, suddenly finds herself completely alone. While the story left me a bit confused about the woman and what’s going on (there’s no dialogue), I enjoyed the look of this piece very much.  Towards the end of the movie, she’s running down the cars in the train, and the “camera” moves just like a live action film. You get her sense of panic and frustration, and that she’s very afraid. I liked this one. 

Four trees out of 5

 

Lullaby (Kolibelnaya), directed by Andrey Zolotukhin is from the Russian Federation. There was no dialogue in this piece either. The look was very cool, with moving images in the style of old film reels. It was grainy, and shot in black and white. I didn’t feel there was a linear storyline, and couldn’t quite understand the action. I didn’t like this very much. 

Two trees out of 5

 

The Cable Car (Die Seilbahn), directed by Claudius Gentinetta and Frank Braun was from Switzerland. The animation in this piece was awful. The only part of the background that moved was a waterfall, and it looked like a child’s drawing. The cable car itself appeared to be CGI. The man in the piece is riding the cable car somewhere in the mountains. After taking a pinch of snuff, he sneezes, and subsequently, every time he does, the cable car falls apart more and more. I wasn’t too impressed with this film. 

One tree out of 5

 

The Crumblegiant, directed by John McCloskey was from the UK. The description of this movie says, “An old woman remembers a childhood episode and joins this world of memory. Meanwhile the outside world goes on—oblivious” (The Edinburgh International Film Festival Catalogue). I didn’t get that out of what I saw at all. The animation was beautiful, with stark images of crows in trees, and fields of dandelions. But the story didn’t really make sense. A girl named Emily gets help fighting off crows with the help of the Crumblegiant (which is never seen). Then, one day, the Crumblegiant is no longer around. Emily eventually grows up, and then somehow doesn’t exist. I didn’t really enjoy this one. 

 Two trees out of 5

 

 

Wolfie the Pianist, directed by Toshiki Iwahori and Yasuyuki Shimuzu was from Japan. I was reminded of Japanimations I saw on TV growing up. Wolfie had big round eyes, and the sheep and squirrels had button eyes and the big round mouths that are typical of that style. If you’ve ever seen “Sailor Moon”, you know the style of which I speak. This wasn’t the best animation I’ve seen, but it was a good contribution to this category. 

Four trees out of 5