The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation

There are a number of folks who think baring their all emotionally must, somehow, equal ART. This movie lies there as the definitive proof that that is not the case; despite how many idiots are praising it for its "honesty."

It is, instead, brilliantly dishonest. The filmmaker has issues with his daddy. After apparently never having confronted his father about the things that bothered him while he was alive, the filmmaker decided to make up a conversation with his dad into which he, the filmmaker, would put words into his dead father's mouth, making it clear it was all his fault.

The film comes across as whiny and nasty, a post-death "f*** you" to his old man.

There is no imagination, style or talent for imagery revealed in the pedestrian animation with which he illustrates all this.

Watching it is like watching a child throw a particularly nasty childhood tantrum, and that is all I can remember of this self-absorbed film.

This animated film is absolutely wonderful. The drawings are really simple (it can't be compared to "Cars" or other "big" animated movies) but there's so much emotion and creativity that you go out of this film deeply moved and absolutely fascinated. It's the kind of film which makes you want to make animated films, thinking that it's something great and making you think something you didn't think before : animated films can be sometimes more powerful than any other films. The voice of John Turturro has something to do with it, both melancholic and angry. What really defines this film is "true feeling" and "simple". It's something very creative and new : the story told is a true story. Sometimes, true photos or newspapers are put into the film. It creates a wonderful mix between the reality and the dream, a true person and his image and for the director, between the desire of rediscovering his childhood and the fear about it. It's very sad as the father died before the film was made and it's strange what someone who didn't talk can say to his child and how love can impersonate itself in our lives and stories.

Add my voice to those who are underwhelmed with this Oscar winning short. This is the personal story of filmmaker John Canemaker attempting to come to terms with his deceased father. Using a variety of animation techniques, home movies and photos Camemaker imagines a conversation between himself and his father. What were his father's secrets and why did his Dad do the things he did? Canemaker takes a stab at trying to work out things, but because the answers were never revealed in life the answers revealed here seem some how more wishful thinking than anything else. Its not bad but it never really seemed to amount to much. The problem with the film for me was that the material seems to be almost too personal, it never transcended into a universalness that great stories do. Its not bad, really, its not, its not great, certainly not best of the year (Bill Plymton's Fan and the Flower is infinitely better as are the other Oscar nominated shorts).

Self-indulgent, tiresome and whiny. I saw this with the other films nominated for the 2005 Animated Short Oscar. This one generated the least audience response (no clapping afterward)of the five. There's a second act, so-to-speak, that tells the father's story that is interesting and better than the first and third acts. But it's pretty much a downer of a film. The animation is simple and interspersed with home movies and photographic stills. The animation shifts among visual styles for no apparent reason. Reminded me a lot of a Woody Allen film -- if you like his work, you'll like this. If, like me, you don't, give this a pass. Many other works have examined the tensions of the father-son relationship much better.

John Canemaker's Academy Award-winning gritty look at his father starts out soft but quickly gets rough. "The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation" features John Turturro as the son and Eli Wallach as the dad. It's not anything great, but it's not one that you'll forget easily. It might be of interest to people who want to watch every Oscar-winning documentary, but not to most people.