046. Oktapodi (France - 2007)

Another short-length animation. Last film before this long hiatus in which I'm going through a major change in my life, starting my doctorate in English Literature and Film in Florianópolis (I apologise for not having updated the blog in a long while). This one much better and more concise in its purposes than the last one. Two octopuses escape from their roles of attraction and decoration in a restaurant and fight their way through a small town to get to sea. It's a beautiful piece, and very well done in terms of animation, of mechanics. The sound is also synchronised, consonant with the premise of the film. Nice idea and well executed. And the first film on this blog with multiple directors.

Director: Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, and Emud Mokhberi.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0
(No Acting/Voice Acting)
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
(No Text)
Concept: 7.5
Premise Execution: 8.0

Average Score: 7.9

045. Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Ireland - 2008)

A short film with a cheeky idea. Granny O' Grimm is a naughty old lady who tells her grandson the story of Sleeping Beauty with a whole new concept of horror and evil. The kid, who's already nearly having a heart attack from the fear of the dark itself, almost pisses himself at hearing the story, which is more comic rather than fearsome. Apart from the funny imagery of the story retold by the old lady, nothing interesting stands out from this animation. Bland.

Director: Nicky Phelan.

Score
Cinematography: 7.5
Voice Acting: 7.5
Editing: 6.5
Sound: 6.0
Text: 6.0
Concept: 7.0
Premise Execution: 5.5

Average Score: 6.5

024. Harvie Krumpet (Australia - 2003)

Harvie Krumpet is a constant prototype of subjective disaster. But he's never really dragged in there directly. His life could be much worse, were it not for his tiny fortunes and accomplishments. His constant changes and realisations about his psychological condition. An Adam Eliot's typical, full of the Australian director's motifs, from the unusual ways of life of his characters to the pleasant and cunning narrative, usually uttered by great actors (in this case, Geoffrey Rush). Won the Academy Award for Best Animation in 2003. A finely made animation.

Director: Adam Eliot.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0
Voice Acting: 8.5
Editing: 8.5
Sound: 7.5
Text: 8.0
Concept: 7.0
Premise execution: 8.0

Average Score: 7.9

021. Flying Padre (United States - 1951)

Kubrick's second short-film was a bit more liturgic and mournful; yet one can already see the striking features of a filmic visionary. He directs and writes for the production. Bird's-eye shots of gorgeous landscapes that impress when considering the simplicity of such a short film, and the clean voice-over narration, so pleasant to the ears as it carries that typical tone of 50s cinema with it. Not to mention the smart sound mixing. It's a story of two ritualistic days in the life of a priest in New Mexico, yet portraying a certain impartial - and merely documental - perspective on religion. It was a portrait of a man's duties, religious or otherwise.

It is interesting to note how Kubrick, being so talented, started with such unpretentious projects for films. Both this and Day of the Fight show the rudimentary Stanley in action, already showcasing his talents as a filmmaker and as a writer. Well-organised plotline and polished text. Too bad it was too short and simple to gather much of his talent.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Score
Cinematography: 8.5
Acting: 5.0
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 7.0
Text: 7.0

Average Score: 7.1

020. Day of the Fight (United States - 1951)

The first of many Kubrick's films to come on this list. And this is, in fact, his first film. It impressed me in terms of cinematography - the framing was close to perfection -, cuts and the pace of the narration. A documentary-like short film depicting the moments before a fight of a boxer (Walter Cartier, as himself) who has to go through physical constraints to have a good performance not only in his bout, but also in the weighing before it. Nice portrayal of the hard boxing life several fighters had to endure back in the first and early second half of the 20th century.

Director: Stanley Kubrick.

Score
Cinematography: 9.0

Acting: 6.0
Editing: 8.5
Sound: 7.0
Text: 8.0

Average Score: 7.7

017.Ubornaya Istoriya - Lyubovnaya Istoriya / Lavatory - Lovestory (Russia - 2007)

A simple but funny animation. A woman indifferently watches her days go by as she keeps a tip jar on her balcony, where she works as a lavatory attendant. She cleans up the place, goes back to her work booth, and anxiously awaits the possibility of a lover when she finds a bouquet in her tip jar. He's nowhere to be found, though. The fun resides in her frantic search for the said gentleman, the mysterious admirer who will finally give her joy in her sentimental life.


And yes, she eventually finds him.
Not bad, but not out of the ordinary.

Director: Konstantin Bronzit.

Score
Cinematography: 7.5

Acting (not present)
Editing: 7.0
Sound: 6.5
Text (not present)

Average Score: 7.0

015. つみきのいえ / The House of Small Cubes (Japan - 2008)

A beautifully moving story.  Often referred to as La Maison en Petits Cubes, it tells of an old fisherman who has to constantly build additional floors for his house because of an evergrowing problem of flooding. As his favourite pipe falls into the water and ends up at the bottom of the ocean, he has to dive to fetch it. On his way down, he revisits old floors of his house and with it, all the past memories of his life. Besides being touching with such a creative plot, the animation also touches by its simple yet calming art: the smooth lines that delineate the old man's facial demeanour bring a sense of peaceful conformation, and triggers some inner switches of longing, of nostalgia in our lives. A gorgeous film that has just the exact length to get hold of your feelings.

Director: Kunio Kato.

Score
Cinematography: 9.0

Acting (not present)
Editing: 9.0
Sound: 8.0
Text (not present)

Average Score: 8.6

011. Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho/I don't Want to Come Back Alone (Brazil - 2010)

Short, simple film with an interesting and creative premise. A blind boy always goes back home from school with the help from a close female friend. Then he gradually discovers that he's falling in love for another boy, a new student named Gabriel. A nice thematic construction, that sometimes lacks acting that is up to the same level (the young actors still carry that bland acting style that converges with Brazilian TV, so hard to detach from since it's a solid dimension of the country's artistic repertoire). Other than that, nice presentation progression and great production level.

Director: Daniel Ribeiro.

Score:
Cinematography: 7.0
Acting: 6.0
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 7.5
Text: 6.0

Average score: 6.9

008. Kutoja/The Last Knit (Finland - 2005)

A short-length animation telling the story of a woman who can never stop knitting. She knits until her scarf starts hanging from a cliff, becoming heavier and heavier and dragging her down with it; even then, she doesn't stop. Simple enough concept, but quite nicely put in the animation. It's all about obsession, how some people can't stop pursuing something even if something vital to them is in jeopardy. The setting around her is uninteresting and bland, to say the least, following the simplicity of the film to the letter (perhaps due to a possible low budget the team had to make the animation). All in all, nice piece of story.

Director: Laura Neuvonen.

Score:
Cinematography: 4.5

Acting (there is almost none, apart from the protagonist's little reactions): 4.0

Editing: 7.0
Sound: 6.5
Text (there is none, so it does not enter this evaluation)

Average Score: 5.5