This short was nominated for the Academy Award for Short, Live Action, Losing to Le Poulet (The Chicken). There will be spoilers ahead:
Jim Henson, already feeling constricted at being considered a producer of children's programming, produced this experimental film as a way of demonstrating other facets to his work. It's most decidedly not intended for children.
It's a visual short, with only four instances where a single word is uttered. Henson plays a man, whom we see all through the short. At the beginning, we see him in a bed in a hospital room. A doctor comes in and checks his heart rate. This is where it starts to get surreal. You begin to hear sounds which aren't typical for the situation-a camera shutter click when he blinks, clicking in place of a heart beat and so on.
The editing on this is extensive, as all the scenes are very brief, running seconds in length. Henson is seen in various places, in different clothing and varied surroundings. He's seen on a pogo stick, running, walking, dressed in suits, rags, as a caveman and even as Lincoln for a bit. Timepieces are shown here and there.
Henson is shown with a woman, with the inference that she's his wife. The woman also does a variety of things-cut cords, take off clothing, eat dinner, change clothing and so on. There are points in this where, if you blink, you'll likely miss something! Everything revolves around rhythm and time and it all comes back around rather neatly. The ending is good, so I won't spoil it here.
So far as I'm aware, this isn't available commercially at the moment, though at one point, I believe you could find it online. Pity, because it's well worth seeing. Most recommended.
Jim Henson, already feeling constricted at being considered a producer of children's programming, produced this experimental film as a way of demonstrating other facets to his work. It's most decidedly not intended for children.
It's a visual short, with only four instances where a single word is uttered. Henson plays a man, whom we see all through the short. At the beginning, we see him in a bed in a hospital room. A doctor comes in and checks his heart rate. This is where it starts to get surreal. You begin to hear sounds which aren't typical for the situation-a camera shutter click when he blinks, clicking in place of a heart beat and so on.
The editing on this is extensive, as all the scenes are very brief, running seconds in length. Henson is seen in various places, in different clothing and varied surroundings. He's seen on a pogo stick, running, walking, dressed in suits, rags, as a caveman and even as Lincoln for a bit. Timepieces are shown here and there.
Henson is shown with a woman, with the inference that she's his wife. The woman also does a variety of things-cut cords, take off clothing, eat dinner, change clothing and so on. There are points in this where, if you blink, you'll likely miss something! Everything revolves around rhythm and time and it all comes back around rather neatly. The ending is good, so I won't spoil it here.
So far as I'm aware, this isn't available commercially at the moment, though at one point, I believe you could find it online. Pity, because it's well worth seeing. Most recommended.
