When I saw this short film it opens with the usual laurel leaves award logo which all short film festivals seem to use now, except in this case the screen is full of them for about the first 30 seconds of the film since, as it tells us, it has so far won 102 awards. I tried to ignore this since I never think it is a good idea to pre-hype your own film with talk of greatness. The short film is basically one joke, or rather one point being made. We join a familiar scene as a man walks up to prepare to go to his work. The scene is made less ordinary by the sight that this mirror is held by a person, his coat and keys held by a person and so on. He does to work on someone's back, only stopping at traffic lights (which are two guys wearing a red or green shirt under a coat), this continues until he reaches the place of his work.
Although it is amusing and cleverly done, essentially I think this short is meant to make us think about the nature of work and the ultimate space we all fit in. Although the examples are extreme, it is difficult for many to really say we work to make a huge difference and that, without the specific job we do, somehow the world would spin off its axis and collapse in chaos. So, while the specifics offer more than the dead-eyed tasks performed in this film, it is only a matter of degrees in many cases. As an one-message deal, the film does frustrate for its comment but lack of alternatives and I did wonder what the makers thought the world should look like if this really is what they are saying. The lack of context does rather feel like they are kicking the service industries, including those performing essential but ultimately unfulfilling tasks.
The animation is clever and some of the uses of people in the place of automated tasks is frequently quite clever but this is a simple short that makes one point and then continues to make it throughout. It is still amusing and thought-provoking but with 102 awards under its belt I can only presume it touched a nerve in many others even though it didn't do too much for me personally.
Although it is amusing and cleverly done, essentially I think this short is meant to make us think about the nature of work and the ultimate space we all fit in. Although the examples are extreme, it is difficult for many to really say we work to make a huge difference and that, without the specific job we do, somehow the world would spin off its axis and collapse in chaos. So, while the specifics offer more than the dead-eyed tasks performed in this film, it is only a matter of degrees in many cases. As an one-message deal, the film does frustrate for its comment but lack of alternatives and I did wonder what the makers thought the world should look like if this really is what they are saying. The lack of context does rather feel like they are kicking the service industries, including those performing essential but ultimately unfulfilling tasks.
The animation is clever and some of the uses of people in the place of automated tasks is frequently quite clever but this is a simple short that makes one point and then continues to make it throughout. It is still amusing and thought-provoking but with 102 awards under its belt I can only presume it touched a nerve in many others even though it didn't do too much for me personally.