Late Afternoon

Animated shorts have a tendency to be dominated by Disney/Pixar at awards seasons.

Late Afternoon is an Irish short. An elderly lady voiced by Fionnula Flanagan reminiscences through her life inspired by little moments such as dunking some biscuits into a cup of tea.

It looks like she might be moving home, a younger woman seems to be packing some possessions away.

As the old lady's memories progress she makes some important connections.

Slightly sentimental but sweet. There is a simplicity to the animation and the music.

Last year's Oscar-Nominated animated shorts show had me mildly concerned; one of the nominees was GARDEN PARTY, a CGI effort, in which a roving camera wanders around a house, looking at all the frogs. It might have been reality for all I could tell and that's what's disturbing. If animation is indistinguishable from reality, does it have any particular artistic value? Does it not simply reduce the category to a sub-category of special effects, a technical Oscar like glass painting or green-screen technician? William Demille used to teach a course on title writing and, yes, there are still titles used in the body of a movie, but there's no Oscar for Best Title Writing, just as color cinematography and black and white cinematography no longer have separate categories. Now they're simple choices made on the basis of taste and money.

It seems to me that unless animation tells stories that live action cannot, or tells them better, then it is a dying branch of movie-making, and let's not bother. It will appeal nostalgically to a smaller and smaller group of people, considering themes that appeal to the very old until some day some one will say "Why are we bothering?" and drag out the woolsack to make room for a comfortable chair for the Chancellor.

An elderly lady is sitting while a young woman packs the house's furnishings. As the lady sips tea, she remembers being a child at the beach, a young woman in love, and a young mother with her own child at the beach.

If animation is at risk of dying out as an art form because there is no story it can tell that cannot be told in a realistic fashion, then sure the themes it will adopt will be those that appeal to a shrinking, aging population. Such themes include fear of senility, aging out of your home and life.... in short the themes of this movie.

On the other hand, this offers the story in a pleasant impressionist manner. So, despite my fears, I liked it a lot.

An elderly woman has her memories triggered by a biscuit and cup of tea on a sunny later afternoon. This little animation is quite gentle in the way it deals with dementia, and it does tend a bit towards the sentimental, however it works surprisingly well. We see a few scenes from the woman's childhood and adulthood play out, and then it ends where we suspected it would. The animation is smooth and easy on the eye, and along with the music it does produce this gentle/sentimental tone. Watching it, I was looking for it to have a bit more of an edge, but by the end I knew I was wrong and trusting the film was the better way. The ending is pretty obvious in content, but the way it is delivered is really well done and gave me an emotional impact even as I was feeling a bit cynical and smug for knowing the end ahead of time. A gentle little film but worth seeing.

It is a source of emotions. From the ages of the lead character to the fluidity of animation. Most important, it is a short film about yourself.The story of Emily front to a tea cup and a biscuit. And her long travel across herself. Sure, "Late Afternoon" could have many deffinitions. But important is its special status of key to yourself. The waves of emotions. And the pieces of beach, tea, biscuit becoming almost material. Like the final hug.

A tender, loving and absorbing film, which holds on to your attention until the very end. This animation hits the spot on every level and leaves you wondering about yourself as you follow the character swims into the ocean of memories and trying to grab onto one of them and explore it once more as she's putting puzzles together to arrive at anything, something or someone.