Father and Daughter

Father and Daughter is a perfect piece of animation film-making. People 'worry' that it won't be seen, but we have postings here from Germany, Scotland, USA... Here in Japan, the film got a theatrical release, the shortest movie ever to achieve that in Japan. I have been screening it to film students for three years, and in this year's class one student had seen it already. This film takes one traumatic event in the life of a young woman and focuses on it to the exclusion of all others. It doesn't reduce her life to that single motif - the film acknowledges that a fuller life is lived off-screen, as her family accompanying her in several scenes implies. Some filmmakers will work their whole careers and never have their audience achieve the level of catharsis in Father and Daughter. Quite simply breathtaking in its economy and elegance.

This is the story about a father and his daughter. First, the father went to somewhere by bicycle and boat. His daughter saw him off by the sea.

The daughter waited for a long time, because her father did not come back. A long time passed after he went. She waited and met for him on the rainy day and wind day, with her bicycle. She grew up. She made many friends. They spent their days the usual way. However, she did not go through. She stopped at the place she said good bye to her father. She had never forgotten.

This story makes me so sad. I want her to meet her father when he lived. However I like this movie, because I can see the love of the father and daughter. It is so beautiful.

I recommend this story. If you see this, you can see the love of father and daughter. You will feel so good.

I was lucky enough to see this at an animation masterclass in Glasgow in 2001. Thankfully the lights were dimmed when they showed this so we could all cry in the dark.

A masterpiece that does not waste a single frame. Stylish and straight to the emotional nerve.

The feeling of longing in this short is almost suffocating. Longing is such a strong emotion that is not expressed often enough in cinema. If anyone in film can get half as close to true longing as "Father and Daughter" they will touch the audience for life.

People MUST see this. Someone out there - What about a compilation video of "10 Years of Animated Shorts Oscar Winners" Please?

In my view, this piece is the equal to The Man Who Planted Trees (which is high praise indeed) and it should be in print and widely available. Sadly, all too many short animated pieces are not in print (or even seen, these days) and this reality will not be altered any time soon, I'm afraid. End of sermon.

Father and Daughter is simply breathtaking. The whole package-music, backgrounds, animation, story-everything is excellent, with nary a misstep. Basic themes repeat throughout and the attention to detail is extraordinary! Particularly watch toward the end, the shadows and the interaction of movement. That this won the Academy Award and deserved to is an understatement. There were three exceptional nominees, all of which is a testament to the committee overseeing the shorts nomination process. So far as I'm aware, only one (Rejected) is in print. I saw Father and Daughter on The Sundance Channel, as part of Shorts Program 103. Most highly recommended.

The film is a story about a father and his daughter, mainly about the daughter. When she is a child, I don't know why, she is left by her father. And leaving her, he goes far by rowboat. Later, she always comes to the river where he left and looks for him, but she can't find him. Finally, she becomes an old woman, and then...

I like this film for two reasons. The first reason is its background music. It is like a waltz. I like a waltz, so I like the music too. In addition to this, the music of each part of this film matches the mood of and represents her emotions.

The second reason is its imagery. The image is mostly a shadow picture. It makes me a little sad, but it is very artistic.

I am not surprised that this film won the 2000 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Its music and imagery are perfectly sophisticated. It's beautiful and artistic. And its story, the father and his daughter's love for each other, is very moving. I like this film so much that I watched it many times. I'd like you to watch this film with someone who you love.