Quest

Quest is an animation by Thomas Stellmach. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1997.

It is claymation with very good stop motion and interesting backgrounds of a character made out of sand leaving his world of sand as he hears the sound of water and falling through various other worlds as he follows the sound of the water dripping down. We enter a world of paper, stone and iron all allowing the animator to work with different themes and texture.

The problem I had that although the animation was very good with some magnificent detail the story left me nonplussed. The character falls through different worlds and each world seems to get more advanced until he falls through the industrial world as he continues his quest. It just all looked like a message of the dangers of industrialisation but maybe I expected something more.

QUEST was the Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short Film in 1997. In some ways, it is a pretty spectacular film--with nice animation of a character who looks almost as if made of concrete and some interesting backgrounds. However, the story itself was rather secondary and seemed more like it was incidental to the basic idea. Additionally, believe it or not, the movie concrete-like man seemed very reminiscent of the German short film, DAS RAD. Now in QUEST's behalf, it was made years before DAS RAD, but I couldn't help thinking that if I wanted to watch a film about giant rock-like creatures, DAS RAD was more interesting and involving.

The bottom line is that this was a neat film--nice to look at and all. But it just didn't jump out at me or leave me with much of an impression one way or the other. Actually, while it lost to QUEST, I preferred a couple of the nominees from 1997. CANHEAD was also a lot like QUEST! While graphically QUEST was superior, CANHEAD had a more interesting and compelling story. And my favorite of the films was WATT'S PIG. Although PIG featured older style claymation, the story itself was really neat and the backgrounds were amazing for stop motion style films.

As for the final nominee for 1997, LA SALLA, I could not find this film and cannot compare it to the other films. If anyone knows where I can find it, let me know--especially since its maker, Richard Condie, has made some wonderful films for Canadian TV--such as the hilarious THE BIG SNIT.

Brilliant non-digital animation to set standards for model animation. Deserved its Oscar especially for its atmospheric feel of desolation and the outstanding production values. Succeeds too in making you feel for the main - and only - character, a little sandman in the truest sense of the word, on its search for water. Watch out for the flying sparks!

A rock/man wakes in a desert. He obviously needs water, since his water bottle is empty. The Quest is to find water. So he goes and each time he seems close he falls through to a different realm with more sophisticated landscapes. This is gripping, but the ending is so trite. Clever concept.

This is probably going to sound like a negative review, but trust me, it's not. I think QUEST is a fantastic animation which I recommend to everyone. As far as stop-motion animation goes, this is one of the best thing I've ever seen, ranking up there with the Russian classic ...oh bloody hell I can't remember the name of the Russian classic (I think it was called "The Door").

But here's "blah" part of my review. QUEST didn't strike me as being very profound although it seems to believe that it is. Sure, there is a lot of interesting symbolism, metaphor and parallels with the human condition. But these devices don't necessarily make a profound statement or commentary.

In order to avoid spoiling the plot, I'll just invent a totally hypothetical example of what I'm talking about. Suppose I make a movie about walking down the street. I can show that the street is made of gold (symbolising prosperity), and that the houses are identical (symbolising conformity), and that the sky is cloudy (symbolising uncertainty). I can show all sorts of thought-provoking stuff like that. And in the end, my message can be "Life is like walking down the street."

You guys would boo me off the stage, wouldn't you. I would hope so. You see, I believe a good philosophical thought should be one that makes you stop and say, "Gee, I never thought about that!" But in my example (and presumably in QUEST), the philosophical thought isn't anything that you haven't already considered (and probably not even at your best moment).

It reminds me of the time my friend Eric got high and wrote a poem called "Seek the Surf". He dressed it up in a lot of Kerouac-like, drug-induced ramblings, but in the end it was just a poem about water. The next morning Eric sobered up, read it, laughed his ass off and promised never to write poetry while high.

I'm going to conclude by saying something that will REALLY sound like a horrible insult, but I mean it earnestly and with admiration. I think QUEST would make an excellent music video for a heavy metal band. In fact, I'll probably use it as a "mood piece" at my next party. I really enjoy this sort of stuff.