Voisins

Two neighbours emerge from their homes to sit on deck-chairs reading the same newspaper - with polar opposite headlines, before they become captivated by a dandelion that appears on their shared lawn. Curious, they investigate then both engage in some energetic and slightly surreal acrobatics around their garden followed by a slight "discussion" as to the ownership of the flower. Their peaceful co-existence is now threatened by a picket-fence! Is it the end of a beautiful friendship? Well only a fence-post duel and some fisticuffs might decide - assuming, of course, the watching plant decides to stick around or even survives for long enough! There's no dialogue but a quirky and lively, synthesised, soundtrack helps this daft, slightly slapstick, caper along entertainingly to a rather brutal and destructive denouement that did raise a smile. The moral? Well, love thy neighbour of course!

This eight minutes film is the most know work of animation and experimentation wizzard Norman McLaren. It is as fresh as it was en the early fifties, and also as much disturbing. But the message is (sadly) still OK today. The story is about two friendly neighbourgs taking some fresh air near their fence. Suddenly a flower grows. And the two men kill each other for knowing which side of the land belongs the flower. All this without words, but with experimental music that McLaren had draw on the movie tape.

. . . so-called "Canadians" are akin to legendary or mythical creatures, not unlike Bigfoot, Sasquatch or the Abominable Snowman, aka Yeti. It's safe to say that for every ONE Canadian--perhaps a visiting Blue Jay or Maple Leaf--a Dallas or Houston resident has seen, he or she has glimpsed 10,000 Mexicans. Now, when it comes to plugs for our tourist industry, our Single Star State governor is very careful to follow the Truth-in-Advertising Rule Book. That's why ALL of our "Come Hither" spots remind visitors to pack as least a couple AR 15's or AK 47's so that they can Stand Their Ground when necessary. Strangely, this film from the Canadian Tourist Agency depicts their Far North Icebox as a backwater stuck in a Stone Age rut of vicious hand-to-hand combat, where no one is packing heat. Therefore, they deserve a relatively high mark for warning normal people such as Americans to STAY AWAY from the Frigid Fiends of French-English Cat-Dog Canada, and contribute some of the travel dollars saved to support BANGS: Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps.

Neighbours is an amazing and sometimes vicious animated masterpiece.

This short, which combines live-action with stop-motion animation, was nominated for two Oscars and won for Best Documentary Short. The events depicted become more ironic as they unfold and to describe any of the details to any great degree would be unfair to the short and to future viewers. Totally recommended.