Affairs of the Art

I really did like the detailed quality of the active animation in this latest outing for "Beryl". She likes to draw, indeed she's obsessed with it - and alongside the eccentric behaviour of her husband "Ifor" and their son "Colin" we share in the joy of their collections of perfectly arranged screws, or her stuffed animals, indeed even a fanatical collection of jarred pickles. Nothing is undrawn. Meantime, her sister "Beverly" who has made a fortune extolling the virtues of all things nip and tuck is living the life of luxury in Los Angeles, and at times she is very reminiscent of one or two famous Hollywood stars whom it'd probably be libellous to name! It's a bit on the vulgar side towards the end, and though that might read a bit puritanical, I found it just dragged what was really quite creative and entertaining into the realms of something just a bit crass. Still, it's moves with one heck of a pace, there's a bit of quite pithy dialogue and for the most part it's decent, if a bit long of a watch.

Nice drawings, explosion of imagination, fair portrait of a family and dark humor in large doses. And exploration of cruelty, in different forms, with cold results.

The irony rules in this case , and it is very less pleasant. Because , as a sort of roller coster, it is a splendid analysis of different ages and their bizzare behaviors, crisis of maturity, a gray marriage and the kids and their ways of succes.

Not the last, moving for sort of nice translation of melancholia, for familiar crumbs of childhood , for dialogues and small details , for the spirit of child, from fascinations or experiments to the pure forms of cruelty.

So, a sort of short animation animated by reflections of eccenticity.

The animation is truly incredible. Now, I usually enjoy quirky characters, but there was just way too much animal abuse in this short for me, that it was repulsive and the disgusting sister and the dead body was very hard to watch. While I'm happy NFB got an Oscar nod, I just wish it was for a different film.

This is the best animated film I have seen since the trio from Belleville. What a great work! There is so much LIFE in this short movie!! So much creativity, ideas, surprises, curiousness, joy and talent that it's bursting at the seams. This should have won an Oscar but I guess that for the sanctimonious Hollywood this is way too creative, too smart, too realistic.

Joanna Quinn is amazingly talented not only as an animator, but her voicing the main character gave the real breath of life to Beth and the whole story.

I'm so glad that YouTube, in its infinite unpredictability and randomness, suggested me this video! Thank you Joanna and Les and all the crew!!!

This is a sick and disgusting film from apparent sociopaths. Joanna Quinn and Les Mills should be ashamed of themselves. Repeated depictions of animal abuse and killing cats for fun is not "art," nor entertainment, even in an adult animated short. Anyone here who applauds a ghoulish sadistic film like this should have their head examined, and possibly have any pets in their homes removed or at least monitored for signs of abuse. Art can provoke, but art that purposely offends clear moral boundaries around animal abuse is a sickness. There is nothing redeeming about killing pets for fun. It is appalling the Academy nominated this sociopath's fantasy film for an Oscar. I could not watch this perverted sadistic short past the scenes of children purposely abusing and killing a pet mouse by blowing it up with firecrackers and then killing a pet cat with a bow and arrow. The film is barely 16 minutes, yet it manages to depict children killing two pets in the first half. Shameful, gruesome, cruel and horrid.