A man looks down at an outdoor pool in an urban area, always busy and bustling. At night though it is locked up and he takes his chance to slip down there unseen (paying off the odd bird if he needs to). Tonight though it seems he is not the only one to have this idea and he finds he has company in the form of a female companion with whom he makes an instant connection leading to a magical evening.
I've watched a lot of animation recently and a lot of it has been driven by computers and in this way it was quite refreshing to come to an animation which feels so very hand crafted and "basic", although basic is the wrong choice of words as it suggests it is no good. Here the drawn characters and world are pretty charming and I was drawn into it early on as the man slips a note to a bird to keep stumm. From here the short becomes a series of synchronized swimming movements to the sounds of the Blue Danube Waltz. Being honest I would have loved more visual flair during these sections but with the tone and the music I was rather won over by it.
The ending is pure nonsense but somehow it works because it has charm and a certain sense of magic for the two characters (albeit taken to extremes) and I was rather won over by the sweetness and simplicity of the story but also of the film as a whole. It is a simple piece but it does work, albeit that it relies a lot on its charm and lightness to get by.
I've watched a lot of animation recently and a lot of it has been driven by computers and in this way it was quite refreshing to come to an animation which feels so very hand crafted and "basic", although basic is the wrong choice of words as it suggests it is no good. Here the drawn characters and world are pretty charming and I was drawn into it early on as the man slips a note to a bird to keep stumm. From here the short becomes a series of synchronized swimming movements to the sounds of the Blue Danube Waltz. Being honest I would have loved more visual flair during these sections but with the tone and the music I was rather won over by it.
The ending is pure nonsense but somehow it works because it has charm and a certain sense of magic for the two characters (albeit taken to extremes) and I was rather won over by the sweetness and simplicity of the story but also of the film as a whole. It is a simple piece but it does work, albeit that it relies a lot on its charm and lightness to get by.
