In a Heartbeat

You have to watch it for yourself. This little, cute film shows that being gay, straight, and anything in between isn't just about sexual attraction. It's about romantic, love-attraction. I grew up in a small town where I often heard that "gay people only care about sex." This piece of art illustrates beautifully, humorously, and seriously that that just isn't true.

Sweet animated short about a young man and his heart pursuing the boy they have a crush on. Pixar quality animation but make no mistake it's not and I don't believe Disney are "there" yet.

As you can imagine right wingers and the religious would crap bricks if this short ever reached the masses and gained the acclaim it arguably deserves.

Very short and a bit cheesy this is a good effort and honestly if they made a feature length movie about this I'd happily watch it.

It's not political, it's not forced and there is no gay "agenda" this people is about one single thing..............love.

This is such a simple yet wonderful piece of art.

Without words and in adorable style it speaks of love and fear and pain and confusion and hiding and being exposed. It is so easy to empathize with the boy and his traitorous heart. We have all been there at one time or the other. Exposed. Vulnerable. Wishing to turn back time. To unsay words already said.

The story itself is simple and straightforward and it grips your heart and won't let it go as you smile through the tears streaming down your face. Because this little piece of color and music and movement is pure emotion.

"In a Heartbeat" is a very unusual film. Two students from the Ringling College of Arts and Design, Esteban Bravo and Beth David, made this animated short as their final graduation project. That in and of itself is not unusual. However, when the short was released on YouTube, it received 20,000,000 hits in the first five days!! To this date, over 34,000,000 have watched the film. So, considering how popular the film was, as well as the quality of the project, it's odd that it was not nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscar for Best Animated Short. In fact, it wasn't even included as one of the commended films when the animated shorts were shown in the weeks preceding the Oscars. I have no idea why it wasn't chosen...especially in light of how incredibly mediocre the actual nominees were.

The story itself is very simple and is told without words. A gay young man (I am guessing about Middle School age) is smitten with a classmate. To illustrate this, Bravo and David used a heart...a literal heart...to show the boy's intense feelings. And, like most intense feelings from teens, he's unable to control the heart...and it literally bursts from the boy's chest and begins chasing after the other boy. What's next? See the film.

The bottom line is that this film has spoken to a lot of people and it's very well made...so well made that I am anxious to see more from these bright young graduates.

Within 4 minutes, I felt a whim of emotions that most hour long movies can't open my mind and heart to. The animation is eye candy and the symbolism is very poetic.

Another truly wonderful thing this film accomplished is that given the political topic of LGBT support, this film innocently opens not only our minds, but also our hearts to those who do face unnecessary judgment for something as innocent as a grade school crush. And to establish such a strong defense with 0 dialog is beyond incredible.

I recommend everyone to not only watch this but to spread it to as many friends as you can. Share the beauty and love that this film offers