Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (2007)

R: We went to see the "Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts" at the Michigan last night. I can't say that the circumstances of the screening were as auspicious as they were last year -- the quality of the video projected was noticeably less, and none of the "runners-up" were screened -- but I think the films were, on the whole better. In fact, there was only one that I disliked!

Even Pigeons Go to Heaven

A French effort headed up by Samuel Tourneux, this was the only 3D/CG entry this year. I have to admit that I was impressed by the quality of the animation -- I'm not a big fan of CG, but I think this was an improvement over last year. In fact, I'd say that the animation was good enough that I can go right on to complaining about the film, which I, fully aware of the irony, will call "soulless." At the end, we've seen that the protagonist is a fool, the antagonist is a fool, and so... the viewer must be the clever one? Ah, but the viewer just sat through Even Pigeons Go to Heaven, so actually he can't be the clever one.

My Love

This is the fifth film from Russian director Alexander Petrov, who I think it's fair to call the leading animator of his generation. His previous efforts include

The Cow (1989, based on a story by Platonov)
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1992, based on a story by Dostoevsky)
The Mermaid (1996, my personal favorite)
The Old Man and the Sea (1999, finally got him an Oscar)
(YouTube quality is particularly inappropriate for these films, since much of the painterly aspect of the films gets blurred out -- if you're in A2 and would like to see these in better resolution, let me know)

I wouldn't be blogging if I weren't occasionally snarky, so let's get that out of the way. The NYTreview of My Love makes about almost as many mistakes as specific claims about the film. Like his previous films, My Love is executed in Petrov's "oil paint on glass" style, not in pastel. The story is based on a novel by Ivan Shmelev, A Love Story, which is centered on a boy who has read Turgenev's First Love.

Visually, the films is as striking as Petrov's earlier efforts. The still frames could be paintings of the Russian countryside, and the "montage" sequences blur, twist, and morph from image to image -- anything but a cut. As you might guess, this was the film I was most excited about seeing -- I'd actually resisted the various temptations of the InterTubes, so that I could see it on an appropriate scale. There are other animators who paint on glass (google Caroline Leaf and Georges Schwizgebel), but Petrov is more of a realist, has a greater love of detail, and doesn't shrink down as well. Thematically, Petrov draws from the village vocabulary of The Cow and The Mermaid, while making greater use of (slightly) surreal digressions that reminded me, a bit, of Dream of a Ridiculous Man.

Although I quite enjoyed it, I can't say that this was my favorite film this year (though it's an easy second). It's the "talkiest" of the entries, and this is certainly a weakness. Animators in general, and Petrov in particular, have the entire world of visual expression open to them -- it's a bit disappointing when they rely on extensive dialogue to make their point. It would be easy to call the story sentimental, though I think the ending does much to redeem the film. The pace is relaxed, though I haven't made up my mind as to whether I would call it loose. Like all of Petrov's films it's a major accomplishment, but after such a long wait, I had hoped for more.

Madame Tutli-Putli

This film was absolutely amazing. It was some of the most stunning puppet animation that I have ever seen, and it has to win the Oscar. As it turns out, there was a lot of digital compositing to put everything together -- I have no idea how else one could animate a puppet running through such tight corridors. Also, as Kate pointed out, they added human eyes to the puppets, as describer here. As with CG, I'm not a big fan of live elements in animation, but the effect here simply must be seen.

More importantly, these technical advances are used to great creative effect. I'm not sure I can summarize the plot of the film -- some manner of nightmare is the best I can do. I want very much to see it again, to "figure it out," but to let it sink in, more like Tale of Tales than Memento. The only other thing to add is that this is the first professional film that the directors, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, have made. Wow.

I Met the Walrus
(Sorry -- couldn't find this one on YouTube)

I think this film is interesting because it draws so heavily on the vocabulary of Flash animation, even if it wasn't actually done in Flash. Which I suspect it wasn't, since it has considerably more polish, I like seeing some of those idioms taken to a higher level. The gist is that the producer interviewed John Lennon when he (the producer) was about 14 -- that interview forms the soundtrack, and the animation basically riffs on the dialogue. Looking at the website, it sounds like this interview was a life-changing experience for the interviewer -- I can't say that comes through in the animation. Still, it's fun.

Peter and the Wolf

One of my professors at VGIK was fond of dividing up the world of animation into various national schools. This works surprisingly well, but, I think Peter and the Wolf would piss her off, as it's a British-Norwegian-Polish co-production. To make things better, it appears to be set in Russia, presumably because they're animating Prokofiev. The thing that stands out about this is, IMHO, the expressive quality of the animation. The goose, crow, and cat come alive, and this is what sets good animation apart from good artistic design.

The catch is that animators are kind of like actors, and just like one actor doesn't play all of the parts in a movie (even Peter Sellers doesn't play all of them), I don't think the same person animated all of the characters in this film. I wasn't as impressed with the wolf or the human characters as I was with the characters I listed above. It also didn't look like the fast movements (the cat darting, the wolf pouncing) were done well.

This leaves me a bit puzzled, because this film one the "Cristal" and the audience award at Annecy this year -- not an audience I would expect to be forgiving of uneven animation.