Wednesday, January 11, 2012
LITTLE BOAT!
Little Boat from nelson boles on Vimeo.
Look at this thing! Behold, for it is good. Little Boat is an animated short that warms the heart and all that junk. But it is also cool to look at with your eyes. If you are reading this then you have watched it already. Already you have watched this thing. Hopefully. If not, do so, for I am going to speak/write as if you have.
Little Boat is a simple-but-masterfully-executed story, and is unique in a couple of ways. In fact, more than a couple. I will name THREE. Number ONE: it doesn't use words. This is not a mind-blowing new technique, but do you remember that old adage that goes something like, "Don't tell what you can show"? Little Boat does that. It does that a whole bunch. Number TWO: the protagonist of our story is a boat. And not one of the anthropomorphized variety. A regular one, incapable of speech. This is a pretty rare characteristic for a story to have, because despite using female pronouns in reference to ships, there aren't a lot of narratives that pay this much attention to naval transportation. One could make the argument that the supporting cast of characters are the real "heroes" of the story, and the focus on our little boat is just a means of telling their tales. But I don't agree, ok? Ok. Number THREE: uh... maybe I only had two things? I mean, this film is still unique and outstanding in that the sound design is perfect and deadly effective, and that the animation is GORGEOUS, but it doesn't have any other particularly distinctive tricks as far as the narrative goes. I will say that the brief introductions to the supporting cast (the launderer, the monkeys, the soldiers) and the boat's returning visitations are really rewarding, maybe because we (or maybe just me) didn't expect to see them again, and especially not with such kindness and generosity. So that's a lovely thing.
I should mention that this artist's other works are also exceedingly rad. For example, this. That little Orfeu trailer looks how The Adventures of Tintin should have looked. But I forgive Tintin because of that chase scene. With the motorcycle? It was cool. So yeah, traditional animation forever and ever, never give it up. LITTLE BOAT!
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I love, love, love this story of the Little Boat. In many ways, this boat is one of the most versatile characters a movie can have. It's a completely complacent character, simply taking what life gives him in strides and being transformed because of it. The absence of dialogue allows us to see how this is so - after being broken down by trials, but continually pressing on, Boaty seems to be defeated. However, he triumphantly musters all of his strength and rolls over, daring the world to keep holding him back. As his reward, he floats on, encountering more people and inspiring them with his determination. They each pitch in, offering a bit of sail, some rubber for the hull, some thread here and there. In the end, Boaty looks completely different, but you can still tell it's him. He has been changed by his experiences, but not so much that he's unrecognizable. He's remained the same shape and size, but is stronger because of his journey. Boaty should be an inspiration to us all and because of his impact on my soul I would like to nominate him for Time Magazines person of the year.
ReplyDeleteIn conjunction with what Matt said just above, I think it's fascinating to see the individuals who interact with Little Boat on the first half of his journey change and develop, at least in part due to Little Boat. The first time around, they don't treat Little Boat as anything more than an object floating past them by happenstance. As Little Boat begins to show evidence of his development and experience and passes them all a second time, the supporting characters notice this and contribute to his progression. I just think it's cool that two little scenes with each of the supporting characters can show their change and progression, their realizations of worth in unexpected places.
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