Photographs

This review is part of an ongoing series of reviews I am writing about the nominees for the Beneath the Earth Film Festival, all of which are short films. For more info, go here.

Quite easily the standout of the festival, this ultra-short animated film manages to do so much in its five minutes that the impact it made on me felt somewhat magnified as a result. It feels almost unfair to the other films (especially the fellow animated film, Sharfik) that they had to compete against Photographs, as everything about this film is completely self-assured and high in artistic quality. I'd be very interested to see what director/animators Brendan Clogher and Christina Manrique do next.

The premise of the Photographs is simple enough, an old woman wanders a desolate and ruined city, taking photographs of herself in specific poses about the landscape. There's a style to the design of this character that makes her feel like a real person, it's a little remniscent of the old man from Up, she's such a living character that it doesn't take more than a few seconds to invest yourself in her movements and facial expressions. I think design is more than half the battle in winning an audience over when it comes to animation.

The barren, ruined landscape is very much a symbol for the old woman's ageing body, and the photographs become echoes of her memories. It's so sad, simple and perfect... perfectly executed, and the music, angles, direction, whatever, all contribute to this wonderful and poignant ending. I guess I'm probably overselling it, it's really only a five minute sketch, but I think the heart and soul that's apparent in this piece can't be underestimated. None of the other short films in this competition come close to evoking such a strong emotional response, despite their intentions to do so with more traditional visions of what constitutes a 'tragedy'.

DIRECTOR: Brendan Clogher
WRITER/SOURCE: Brendan Clogher, Christina Manrique

RELATED TEXTS:
- Clogher worked as a storyboard artist on the animated direct-to-DVD release Batman: Year One.
- As mentioned, the design and tone is a little remniscent of Up.