Replay: Short-film Animation Review:
Title: Replay
Created by: Anthony Voisin
Found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-cFHeoXAw8&feature=related
Or: http://www.aniboom.com/animator-portfolio/voisinanthony
A bitter-sweet tale of freedom, happiness and death—Replay is an interesting short-film about a sister (Lana) and brother (Theo) who live in a world where the air is toxic and people (seem) live in underground bunkers and wear special oxygen mask to survive outside. The eight minutes and forty-five seconds doesn’t attempt to explain what has happened to world, as it’s about the Theo character. The lack of background information makes the world more interesting to experience through the eyes of Theo.
The story doesn’t explain about the world but it does make clear people are still alive. Lana is the older sister of Theo and makes a living selling scrap (implied). One day she finds a tape recorder with some audio of children playing, this sparks Theo’s interest at what it is, but Lana doesn’t want him to touch it. The next day he’s gone and she runs out into the world to find him—I won’t say anymore. I only recommend you watch it for the sense of isolation and loneliness created in the exploration sequence.
It does make for a reason to feel a sense of sorrow for the characters. The sombre end creates a mixed experience with how Theo finally escapes from a deadly world and moves onto a world he hasn’t had the chance to experience—that does work enough to make you think “Sad really”.
The animation isn’t amazing, but I don’t consider that to be a detractor when the style of animation seems to be reminiscent of Team Fortress 2—a style that has defined characters designs and a world that conveys its emptiness effectively.
The short-film is French in origin and so, the dialogue is in French—this isn’t a distraction as it doesn’t make use of dialogue for more than two or three minutes.
Fallout mixed with an French element came to mind when I first watched it—a desolated world, characters living in underground living space and empty towns, they created that impression and it doesn’t seem like a bad connection. Thoughtful, lonely and sombre, Replay is simple pleasure to watch.
Thought of the Day: November 6th:
I had the time to think about the little parts of the day—someone created a sense of direction for me to follow when she was talking about another subject unrelated to writing, but it still helped to make me think.
