The Street

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, (I'm surprised it lost, though I've never seen the winner, as far as I know) is a funny, sad, sweet look at life through the eyes of a child growing up in Canada. An excellent adaptation (by the author) of a story by Mordecai Richter and yet another feather in the NFBC's cap. Caroline Leaf is a marvelous director and this is one of her best. Most recommended.

I've been through so many deaths in my seventy odd years. Death isn't terrible. The process of it is awful. It brings people into your life that you would not associate with under any circumstance. People say stupid things and invade one another's privacy. There is generally insensitivity and cruelty. Of course, the person we love is gone, but the whole rigmarole that takes place takes the starch out of the loving remembrances. The boy in this short is experiencing this. His friends are cruel and insensitive. His mother is a virago, given shrift by the death of her mother. I think the animation (which is quite remarkable) puts us in a kind of endless fog (which is appropriate).

Caroline Leaf's adaptation of Mordecai Richler's short story "The Street" discusses the impending death of the great author's grandmother, and his reaction to this as a child, via her trademark paint-on-glass animation style.

Leaf's technique has a wonderfully alluring metamorphic transitory quality to it that gives the narrative a pleasant flow.

Enabling her to bring the Jewish culture of Montreal's St. Urbain St to life.

The whole thing is only about 10 minutes long, but the animation immerses you into this cultural world, as seen through the eyes and naievety of a young child, starting to come of age.

And we, as viewers, can only help but empathize, and recollect on our own experiences and relationship with our own grandparents, as a result.

For many, this would involve dealing with the loss of such an important individual in our lives...and the anxieties that arise from such an experience.

Another wonderful animation from one of Canada and the NFB's most renown animators.

6.5 out of 10.

To me, the best part of this story - by far - was the art. The animated short was painted on glass, frame by frame and has a different look to it than anything I have ever seen. It's fascinating to view. I would watch this again just to appreciate the visuals, which are unique.

I didn't find the story funny, which is what you usually expect from an animated short. It wasn't even appealing to me. It really isn't a cartoon, in that sense, but simply a short Jewish family's story illustrated instead of photographed. A young kid narrates the tale of his grandmother dying, and some of the reactions of the rest of the family. The kid is a bit of wise-guy. I might even watch this again with the sound off because the art is that good!

This movie was part of the DVD "Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites From The National Film Board Of Canada.

The only thing I knew about this short before watching was the plot description I read here on the site. "A young boy impatiently waits for his grandmother to die so he can have her room" was the gist of it.

So I was thinking this would go one of two ways, it would either be darkly humorous, or touching and human, maybe a combination of both. To my surprise and dismay, it turned out to be neither.

The simple and pedestrian story is told in a very mundane and uninvolving way. I felt little to no emotion watching it unfold.

But, my lord, that animation! It reminds me of those bumpers they used to show on PBS kids (is it harder to toot? or to tutor two tutors to toot?). So visually the film is a treat, but with the slog of a story, I can only give it a modest recommendation.