Genius Loci

Adrien Merigeau's Academy Award-nominated "Genius Loci" is an example of how animation doesn't have to be fancy. The most important thing is the story. In this case, a young woman named Reine has a metaphysical adventure one night.

The short doesn't have a definite plot, and nothing really gets identified about Reine other than her name. It's all about her surreal adventure. I didn't expect any sort of masterpiece; the short was pretty much what I anticipated. It's nothing great, nothing terrible. Probably worth seeing once, or if you want to see every Academy Award-nominated short (it's available online).

I feel like this story has cooked in this persons mind for a long time. I know that it has come from a deep place in there brain.

The slight issue with something like that is that it can be confusing for someone who hasn't lived with it for all that time like you have.

I feel like I got parts of it especially at the start but then it sort of lost me.

I will say this, it is gorgeous. It's all these watercolours dancing together on the screen. It's very carefully crafted.

Reine is a young woman who lives with an older one and a aby. One night, she spills some water, and things get very metaphysical, as she wanders the city, interacting vaguely with other loners.

There's a dream logic to this, in its modern sense of no logic whatsoever; the story, if that's the right word for it, starts in one direction, changes abruptly, and then changes again. While the artwork is primtiive and compelling, the sense of narrative chaos is thoroughly offputting. If anything can happen, then what can you do about it, and why should you be surprised or interested, particularly when it may change into something else entirely within the next five seconds.... and does.

Well, part of it is the spectacle of the matter, the pure visual delight. But spectacle such as this serves merely to distract us from the reality that the film maker has nothing to say.

Genius Loci is a surrealist animation short film that follows a very hallucinogenic style of storytelling, making it more of an experiential watch than an enjoyable one. And while there isn't a "plot" as such that drives the film, it still conveys the emotions of instability with as much precision and grandeur as it could.

Not sure if I'll ever recommend it to anyone, but I'm certainly glad I watched it.

I must be getting too old. The musings of this guy and what goes on just seems to go on without an editorial direction. I guess it's just what kids in their situation may dream and so avoid the world they were born into. I was not captivated by the amateurish presentation.