A Single Life

A lovely idea. And its brilliant use. A woman, a gift, a pizza, a phonograph and a travel unique in all senses. The source of seduction of this short animation - the delicate feeling to be about yourself.

A young woman finds a record and plays it on her phonograph. It skips -- and her life skips to that point in time.

There's little to this Oscar-nominated short but those details -- other than a "Back to the Future" reference if you look very closely. Nonetheless and because of its short length -- it's three minutes if you include the credits -- its subtext warning the audience not to be too impatient, to be willing to enjoy the moment rather than skipping to the next, stands out. As does its wry humor.

I doubt this will win the best animated short Oscar -- those usually go to something a bit more pompous. However, if you haven't seen this already, it's worth your time to look at.

Why did they make the character look like a mutated thumb? It's very unpleasant to look at and clashes with the cutesy happy vibe of the film.

It might be ridiculous but I found her little jigglies to be very unsightly and distracting. This really takes away from being able to enjoy the short, because the story isn't a bad one.

I guess I can see why she's single because wow - really a yucky little creature!Off-putting Character Design

'A SINGLE LIFE': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A 3 minute Dutch animated short; which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards). It was directed by Marieke Blaauw (who also wrote the film), Joris Oprins and Job Roggeveen and features Pien Feith as a voice actor. The short tells the story of a girl, named Pia, who travels back and forth through her life, by listening to a vinyl record. It's odd and funny but there's not a lot to it. It's probably not worthy of an Oscar nomination, but it is clever and somewhat amusing (in a weird way).

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"A Single Life" is the most enjoyable of the shorts by far. It's a weird story about a cutely animated girl whose record player acts much like a time machine--and she finds that she can travel back and forth in time with this machine. You'll really have to see this one for yourself to understand what I mean. However, at only 2 minutes in length, it's hard to imagine it taking the Oscar. Fortunately, the ending is quite dark and quite funny and I heard many in the audience laugh during this film. I think this Dutch film by Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen has little chance to win, but it did make me laugh as well. I certainly would love to see more from these folks, as they have a real knack for CGI and humor.