Harpya

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.

a man saves an "interesting" type of bird's life and takes it to his home. but the bird (or bird like human or whatever) slowly starts to ruin the man's freedom to eat or to go outside. all the food is eaten by the so called "bird" and while the man is trying to escape, bird eats his lower part of the body. with the help of a phonograph, he manages to escape from the house but cannot escape from his destiny.

this 9 minute masterpiece has used the animation techniques very smartly although it has been done in 1979. the idea was not explained with cliché techniques either. from the film I understood that a man who helps another might dig his own grave by doing this. cause the one whom you have helped may not help you back. besides he/she can even harm you. so I think this short film was arguing whether one should be individualistic or not (with a pessimistic view.

a must see for all short film and animation addicts.

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.

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.

This animated film from Canada is very well made but it's also a film that probably most viewers would probably dislike. 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 a particularly enjoyable film to watch.