charlotteclaireperin A previous review on this site states my exact thoughts, but I couldn't not write a review about this. The animation is simple, but impressive. It is light, and nostalgic. Nothing needs to be explained and allows the viewer to interpret the story on its own. I interpret the water rising as a metaphor for getting older, and being unable to go back to previous years (or as in the short film, go back previous floors due to them being flooded). Each floor also gets smaller the higher it goes, because when you are younger, the amount of things or choices in your life seem endless, but once you grow up they are more limited. I don't think the flood was about global warming. I also think that the man represents the lonelines elderly people experience as they grown older. It is harder to make friends and the people you once had around might not be there anymore. They are isolated from the world and forced to live in their homes or nursing homes. The old man had children but they didn't come to visit them. It is the sad truth that lonelines is a big factor to depression and many elderly suffer from it. This is why this short is a real tear jerker, because seeing the elderly man light up remembering his life and the people he loved is something we know we might all experience one day. This was a beautiful film and deserves to be appreciated .

851222 Gretings from Lithuania."Tsumiki no ie" (2008) is a very good short animated movie. The settings, plot are nothing short of amazing. This is a very sad and beautiful story about life, beautiful moments in our life which live only in our memories when time comes to the end. The idea behind this little picture is amazing. No wonder it won Oscar for the best short animated movie. Overall, this is wonderful little gem that should be watched and appreciated by people who already lived and have some experience in their lives.

Daan Swakman Today I watched a wonderful little animation, upon which I accidentally stumbled. La Maison en Petit Cubes managed to make a dent in the otherwise so rigid structure of my daily pattern.The theme here is about keeping a grip on your own life adventure; in this case in a very physical way through the stacking of houses over time. The setting is one where (through climate change probably) the world's water level is continuously increasing. As a result of this, people are forced to build on top of their own houses to 'keep their head above the water'. The beautiful thing depicted here is that one's house tells their life story. The old man, while moving his possessions on floor higher for the umpteenth time, dives down into his own memory. As he floats through the old spaces, their stories start to unfold before his eyes. He sees the development in reverse order, starting with grandchildren and ending with the relationship with the love of his life. On a less joyful note: I couldn't help but seeing similarities with the theme in the Pixar animation 'Up' - which makes me doubt the originality of the latter.Short as this story may be, it gave me a wonderful insight into the nostalgia that spaces of a home can give, and how brilliant it would be if we would live in a new space every so often, thereby preserving the previous one as a ready-made personal history book.

MartinHafer Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.The film features an old man living alone in a town that has become submerged. His answer to the slowly rising water is to keep building on to his original home--like placing cubes on top of cubes to keep out the water. When he loses his favorite pipe, he dons scuba gear to retrieve it. As he descends and sees the earlier levels of his home (now submerged) he relives in his mind his life and loves. It's all very sweet and sentimental.I saw this film with a friend and he liked how the scuba diving was a great plot device. He loved the metaphorical aspects of the film. As for me, I wondered if perhaps there was actually a secondary reason for the submerged homes--to draw attention to global warming. He didn't see it and perhaps I am just reading this into the film, though I still suspect the film is trying to preach to the audience about this supposed threat.The story was slow but very sweet--accentuated by a nice hand-drawn look and the gauze filter used to enhance the print along with evocative music. Oddly, while the film maker is apparently Japanese, the title is French and the art work doesn't really look Asian-inspired at all.Of the five films nominated, this is probably my third favorite. It was extremely creative and unique, but I still think the award will either be taken by PRESTO or my favorite, THIS WAY UP.UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but at least saw the film as a strong contender.