समाचार

Why Watch? Because it’s been far too long since you last watched a really good movie about birds. The Thieving Magpie is the first of Emanuele Luzzati‘s two Oscar-nominated short films, the other being 1973′s Pulcinella. This painter, illustrator and animator had quite the career, designing for the opera and pop concerts as well as making cartoons. There’s even a museum of his work in his native Genoa. This medieval-inspired cartoon is one of his best. The set-up is simple – three kings, who have been warring for a century, decide to take a break and go on vacation together. How do they distract themselves? By killing birds. Yet there’s one winged creature who won’t fall to their arrows, a mischievous magpie that eludes and torments them. It’s set to Rossini’s overture to “La gazza ladra,” also the Italian title of this short. The integration of the music and the animation...