FILM REVIEW: Animation #1 - Bolton Film Festival

A couple of animated shorts from the current online Bolton Film Festival.

1.Human Nature - The Netherlands - Dir: Sverre Fredriksen

I'm not normally one for animated films, avoiding them like the plague most times; however, with animation being a very big 'thing' at this year's Bolton Festival, I thought it only fair to take a crack at some of the films on offer. This one intrigued, and I was not disappointed.

It is a very clever and well animated tale which inverts the human / animal narrative by anthropormorphising the animals and using naked humans to take the place of dogs, cats, fish etc, even a turtle beached and spewing human plastic waste.

This film is not only funny and intelligent, but the well thoight-out direction goes even further commenting on our environment and how we abuse it and the animals who use it.

2. Urbanality - Australia - Dir: Evan McInnes

This award winning short from Australia, Ur-Banal-Ity, feels like it might well be the start of something bigger: a cartoon intro to a TV serial or similar.

It's a lovely idea and clever. We all need a little more countryside in our urban lives, and this film makes you see things from a slightly different perspective. It's a very simple film at the moment but that gives the producers and creators room for further development.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 24/10/20