Tsumiki no ie

While the metaphors in Tsumiki no ie are not as deep as the sub-nautical setting, they do not need to be. Everything that "The House of Small Cubes" attempts to convey is clear enough bring about emotion, and concise enough to be understood upon first viewing. Consistent with Japanese minimalism, the animation and art style are both beautiful and elegant. Kenji Kondo's soundtrack; ever withdrawn and ambient, delivers just enough emotional impact at the right points to help the flow of the film while not being overbearing.

Tsumiki no ie is a wonderful twelve minute experience which deserves all of the praise it has received.

The House of Small Cubes felt a bit familiar, like I might've seen it before in either high school or during some university course, but I don't know for sure. It could just be that the visuals and colors reminded me of The City of Lost Children, and that felt familiar. But for a while, this short film also feels like it could be about forgetting things with age, so that's a bit sobering to not know if I remembered the whole thing or not.

But probably not. I think it's more about grief, and maybe memory but not so much in the sense of losing it, even if the voiceless and solitary protagonist is old. Or it could be an apocalyptic thing. The animation is visually pleasing but there's also something a bit unsettling about it all, with the isolation, and the fact that other people only appear in memories.

Maybe it'll stick with me for good this time, supposing I had seen it before some years ago. I'm not in love with the short, and can't shake the feeling that it was missing a little something that might've made it great, but there's still enough here to appreciate that watching it felt worthwhile.

Until this day I've never wanted to post a comment even on my favorite movies, but I could not help saying a word about this loveliest, brilliant little animation. When I watched it for the first time I had a feeling of warmth, serenity and happiness. I was happy that human beings can still create such beautiful things in this world. I am amazed at how the director managed to put so many feelings and thoughts in this tiny piece of animation and I want to thank Mr. Kunio Katô for doing that. My congratulations Mr. Katô, you've added a beautiful piece to the art of animation :) And at last but not least I want to mention the music of the movie, it PERFECTLY fits every inch of the film and creates a harmonious unity of sound and image. I hope you will enjoy watching La Maison en petits cubes as much as I did :)

I don't know why at least two people in other comments write about „flood caused (probably) by global warming".

To me, the flood is purely metaphorical. It's the time that is cruel and forces us to move on, to the next stage of our lives even if we don't want to, because we feel happy where we are, even if we maybe would like to stay there a little bit longer. But we cannot. The rising water forces us to go on. There's no exception.

The old man from the movie travels back in time to watch again the memories of his life but also, as we all know, he becomes aware all those moments are absolutely gone. It's not possible to live underwater – we can only submerge for a moment to have a look at what is there that is all we can do.

This is a movie about life, about being old and lonely, NOT about the global warming nonsense.

A big man in the late part of his life, lives on the top floor of a multi-story house. He actually fishes through a trap door because water has risen so high that his cube is all that is above it. He drops his pipe and goes down in the water to find it. What he finds on the way down are emanations of his life and loves, wife, children, friends. When he tries to grasp the or touch them they disappear. These lower levels are gone forever, never to be reclaimed. But this is what we all face, if we are lucky. Wonderful memories of times we were happy or times we are sad or times we were scared. The music is so pretty and adds a soft touch to the delicate film.