ANIMATED SHORTS
The House of Small Cubes (* * * out of four)
An old man struggles to save his home amid a rising tide.
Country of origin: Japan
Language: Silent
Director: Kunio Kato
Running time: 12 minutes
Critical overview: The visuals in this dreamlike story are unusual and evocative. The scene in which he drops his pipe into the water and must plunge under to retrieve it leaves a strong impression.
Lavatory — Love Story (* * * out of four)
A lonely bathroom attendant receives surprise gifts of flowers from a secret admirer. She goes on a quest to determine who is sending them.
Country of origin: Russia
Language: Silent
Director: Konstantin Bronzit
Running time: 10 minutes
Critical overview: This is composed mainly of simple black-and-white drawings, with intermittent color splotches in the form of floral bouquets. It's a humorous and gently touching tale.
Oktapodi (* * 1/2 out of four)
A pair of octopi scramble for their lives as they dash around the streets of a small village, narrowly evading disaster.
Country of origin: France
Language: Silent
Directors: Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, Emud Mokhberi
Running time: 3 minutes
Critical overview: The vividly gorgeous hues in this very slight tale set in Greece are the film's best asset. It's unclear why it took a half dozen directors to assemble this three-minute film, but it is fun to watch.
Presto (* * * out of four)
A hungry and clever white rabbit keeps Presto, a controlling magician, on his toes.
Country of origin: USA
Language: Silent
Director: Doug Sweetland
Running time: 5 minutes
Critical overview: The exuberant romp is funny and endearing in the tradition of Pixar Animation.
This Way Up (* * * out of four)
A hungry and clever white rabbit keeps Presto, a controlling magician, on his toes.
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Language: Silent
Directors: Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith
Running time: 9 minutes
Critical overview: This comic odyssey is reminiscent of the humorous but macabre style of illustrator Edward Gorey.
LIVE-ACTION SHORTS
Manon on the Asphalt (* * * 1/2 out of four)
It's a sunny spring day, and Manon (Aude Leger) is riding her bicycle en route to meet her boyfriend. A bump in the road changes everything.
Country of origin: France
Language: French
Directors: Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
Running time: 15 minutes
Critical overview: The straightforward, unsentimental narration adds to the powerful emotional resonance of the story. The short format is ideally suited to this gentle meditation on life.
New Boy (* * * out of four)
A slight but charming tale, based on a short story by Roddy Doyle, about a young African immigrant (Olutunji Ebun-Cole) and his first day in a new school. Interspersed with his efforts to find a place among the kids in his class are his reminiscences of time spent with his father in Africa.
Country of origin: Ireland
Language: English
Director: Steph Green
Running time: 11 minutes
Critical overview: A slice of life that leaves you wanting more. We have only a vague idea of what brought him to Ireland, and by the film's conclusion, we long to know more.
On the Line (* * * out of four)
A lonely security guard (Roeland Wiesnekker) at a department store is infatuated with a clerk (Catherine Janke) in the store's book section. His crush takes a devastating turn when he witnesses an incident that changes her life.
Countries of origin: Germany and Switzerland
Language: German
Director: Reto Caffi
Running time: 30 minutes
Critical overview: The two main performances are nuanced and evocative.
The Pig (* * * * out of four)
When a proud elderly tailor (Henning Moritzen) is admitted to a hospital for surgery, he finds himself drawn to a whimsical painting of a leaping pig. As his condition worsens, he comes to regard it as his guardian angel.
Country of origin: Denmark
Language: Danish
Director: Dorte Hogh
Running time: 22 minutes
Critical overview: This highly original tale is never predictable or maudlin and deals with so many timely issues: multiculturalism, medical care and human rights. It is well-acted, sharp-eyed, funny and deeply moving.
Toyland (* * * 1/2 out of four)
In an effort to spare her young son from the harsh realities of life in 1942 Germany, a mother (Julia Jager) tells him that the friend who lives next door and his family, who are Jewish, are going to Toyland. The boy decides to go with them.
Country of origin: Germany
Language: German
Director: Jochen Alexander Freydank
Running time: 13 minutes
Critical overview: The film, which is beautifully shot, takes an unexpected turn. It's a simple idea executed poignantly.
http://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=almosthuman99
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