One Rat Short

Writer/director Alex Weil had ten minutes and eighteen seconds to make me cry over two rats and an empty cheese curl bag, and he did it.

I was drawn to this film by the thirty second teaser on iTunes. Thirty seconds was just enough to get an idea of the animation style, and to draw me into a world I know all too well, the NYC subway. One Rat Short was a candidate at this year's Sundance Film Festival. (One Rat Short and all the other Sundance shorts are available for download on iTunes).

It's hard to say too much about ten minutes and eighteen seconds of film without giving everything away. Let me point out a few reasons why the film is cool.

1. Setting. This film was animated by a someone who, like me, has logged hours staring down at subway tracks waiting for a train. The contrast between the grimy subway opening of the film and the pristine white of the new world into which our protagonist falls is striking.

2. Characters. There are four characters in this film. The protagonist is a big, grey, hairy rat (don't worry, he looks cute, not disgusting). Just as the settings contrast with grimy and pristine, the two main characters contrast- one grey and dirty, the other sleek, white, and clean. Other characters include a troublesome cheese curl bag (the animation on the bag is so lovely it is called a "ballet" on IMDb), and a robot whose gears don't all line up, if you know what I mean.

3. No words. Not a single syllable is uttered during the course of this short. I'm finding that more and more of my favorite films, such as Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring and 3-Iron by Ki-Duk Kim have very few words, or none at all. An amazing piece of cinema really doesn't need them.