Harpya

A man is strangling a harpy, a mythological beast. The protagonist saves the harpy which turns to be a big mistake. The thing moves in with him, devouring every last bit of food the guy has, not allowing him to eat anything. It also is terribly dangerous and in one instance causes irreparable harm. The poor guy is beset by this thing. But remember in mythology, the harpy's role was to torment human or even gods who did something wrong. This is a really harsh film.

I've always enjoyed short films and this animated effort is one of the best I've seen. Created by Belgian auteur Raoul Servais, it's a simple reworking of a legend from ancient Greece, that of the harpy who torments men by eating all of their food. Servais uses animation to great effect, as real actors are transformed and become people living in a make-believe world that looks quirky and beautiful at the same time.

Eliciting excellent performances from the two leads, Will Spoor and Fran Waller Zeper, this eight-minute feature is utterly weird and often horrific, and it's currently doing the Internet rounds on account of its scary nature. Its top-class animation makes it unmissable for those with an interest in the arts while in the meantime it stands alone as a horror film far more terrifying than 90% of recent genre fare.

I saw this when I was very young and have never forgotten it. I recently unearthed it and was still very disturbed by it. It seems to have a direct affect on me and I find the harpya itself quite terrifying. Waiting for it to appear as the poor man is trying to escape is extremely tense and makes me feels very anxious. It is a disturbing portrait of how life has spiralled out of control for the protagonist and he is now kept trapped by this strange creature, forced to be subservient to it and pander to its hungry needs. A nightmarish film which has stayed with me for many years. As disturbing as The Vanishing(original) or Eraserhead but due to its length leaves a strong aftertaste that remains. Powerful stuff and unique.

This animated film from Canada is very well made but it's also a film that probably most viewers would probably not seek out for themselves. As an art film, you have to respect the time and energy it went into it but commercially it just isn't very satisfying.

The film consists of images scratched onto a black background. The film consists of a variety of odd shapes and designs with no anthropomorphic images at all. The images appear and disappear and seem to move to the music. In fact, this is the part that impressed me so much--the animation and music did film perfectly together. However, after initially being impressed, I soon grew tired of this. Even though the film was short, it wasn't short enough for me and a little of this seems to go a very long way.

Overall, interesting and you have to respect the effort but also not the average person would watch.

I was impressed by this animated short. It had some very clever animation and provided an interesting take on a Greek myth. Can't remember the name, but I think it's about this man who tries to eat fruit from a tree, but every time he reaches for it, it gets eaten away by giant birds. That's his eternal punishment, kinda like Sysiphos, who rolls his rock up a mountain just to see it roll down every time he reaches the top. Finally found a short that I admired, and that had something to say too. 8/10