This is the day before the Oscars are announced for 2008 and I just got back from a special screening by our local film society of all five films nominated in the category of Best Animated Short Film. Of the five films, I enjoyed "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" the most and think that it deserves to win the Oscar--because of its lovely CG graphics and very clever and amusing story. However, Petrov's beautiful film about 19th century Russia was breathtakingly beautiful and might just win the Oscar. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" edging out this other film.
The film begins with a frantic race between a car and moped down a country road at night. What this is all about is uncertain, but the car ultimately knocks the moped over and arrives at the house of an old man. As the driver of the car enters the house, the old man is falling from a climb to get an old liquor bottle off a high shelf and the driver jumps out to catch him. In addition to catching the old man, an old sock stuffed with money falls down as well and it's obvious the younger man wants the old guy's money. This is because he goes into a sales pitch and promises to show the old guy a way to get to heaven even if he hasn't earned it! After a bit of work, he constructs an odd looking contraption and says it's a machine that can take anyone to heaven--as long as they have the money! There is a lot of great humor along the way and a couple hilarious twists at the end, but I really don't want to spoil the fun.
Interestingly, when this film was shown, it was the only one of the five that elicited obvious reactions from the audience. There was a lot of laughing and when it was over, the run was literally abuzz with excitement. From this standpoint alone, it should be the Oscar winner tomorrow night.
2/24/08--The Oscar was just announced and the winner in this category was PETER & THE WOLF.
The film begins with a frantic race between a car and moped down a country road at night. What this is all about is uncertain, but the car ultimately knocks the moped over and arrives at the house of an old man. As the driver of the car enters the house, the old man is falling from a climb to get an old liquor bottle off a high shelf and the driver jumps out to catch him. In addition to catching the old man, an old sock stuffed with money falls down as well and it's obvious the younger man wants the old guy's money. This is because he goes into a sales pitch and promises to show the old guy a way to get to heaven even if he hasn't earned it! After a bit of work, he constructs an odd looking contraption and says it's a machine that can take anyone to heaven--as long as they have the money! There is a lot of great humor along the way and a couple hilarious twists at the end, but I really don't want to spoil the fun.
Interestingly, when this film was shown, it was the only one of the five that elicited obvious reactions from the audience. There was a lot of laughing and when it was over, the run was literally abuzz with excitement. From this standpoint alone, it should be the Oscar winner tomorrow night.
2/24/08--The Oscar was just announced and the winner in this category was PETER & THE WOLF.