NFB Film Screening

I saw ten new animated shorts from the National Film Board.  Here are my reviews.  Here is a link to the official site

The Necktie

This film was based off of an extremely well known theme, that of growing up and wasting your life doing things you don't want to do at a job you don't like. But it was presented really well. Clean, funny, interesting.

The Forming Game

A much more abstract film that is really about abstract forms and drawings mixed with sound and motion. Again, clean, interesting, good.

Hungu

An africain story told with cut outs and sand animation. This is the first time that I have seen sand animation that seemed as though the medium of sand made sense. The animation was a little rough, but the animator pushed the poses far enough that they were extremely effective and interesting.

Rosa Rosa
Some sort of love story that I found fairly confusing mostly due to the medium. All real images with white washes and lots of layers. I found it it be confusing and unclear. Even if the images being unclear was supposed to link with the message of the film, that idea wasn't even clear to me. I didn't like this one.

Sainte Barbe

This one seemed alot like someone who really loved Tim Burton. I didn't find the story compelling, about a kid and a grandfather with a magic beard. There was also a very weird design choice of a phallic nose design on one of the characters. I think I heard some laughter of the audience at it. I'm unsure if it was intentional or not, but in any case, I lose faith in the director if something like that gets into a film for a weird reason.

Ha'aki

A very weird movie about Hockey. My main feeling was that who ever made it didn't really understand or like hockey. They didn't make anything beautiful or make a point by making something ugly. Annoying, loud, obnoxious. The reason that computer effects need to be used with great care.

Engine 371

A cautionary tale about civilization. I like how strong some of the imagery was that communicated the message, and it was interesting in mis-en scene. But I found something to be off about this movie. The whole thing felt fairly confused and the audio stuck out. It was made with flash which was used effectively in some ways, but I felt it hurt the quality of much of the animation.

Rains

Probably my favorite film of the night. It was a mood piece communicating what it feels like when it rains. A masterpiece in communicating the essence of the real world. It was made by someone who was really observed and felt what rain does to the world.

Retouches

This was a fairly random assortment of animations that morphed one into the next. There were very compelling small bits that really impressed me. A lot of motion in 3d space that I found very enjoyable to watch. Not really a concept or narrative piece.

Drux Flux

An assault on the senses that I did not appreciate. The imagery was too fast and harsh for even me. It was trying to say something about industry and politics but it didn't make sense beyond trying to annoy me. Bad way to end a showing in my opinion, they should snuck it somewhere in the middle, always end shows with some of the best stuff.


Overall I'm really happy with the work put out my the NFB this year. I feel as though there is a movement towards really clean polished animation. I think this is a good direction for animation. If you look at my previous post about animation you should be able to understand why.

Kyler