I further plumb the fertile depths of animated shorts!
A pair of short films this week,
Rejected (2000, Don Hertzfeldt, United States Of America) ***
A collection of attempted animated commercials by the director, Don Hertzfeldt. There is comedy found in the commercials, specifically in the animation and how outlandish it becomes. There’s a also depth in the way that the film parallels the destruction of Mr. Hertzfeldt’s life as his animation is rejected. The commercials do take potshots at commercialism, and I could have done without that aspect. But, on the whole the film is funny and has an odd appeal about it.
Balance (1989, Christoph & Wolfgang Lauenstein, Germany/West Germany) ***1/2
A brilliant bit of simple, yet effective stop-motion animation. The message is simple, and it is handled in a very simple fashion. That happens to be the key to the film working as well as it does. The message the film puts forth, of humanities need for objects and how objects/possessions throw everything out of whack, is old hat. The stop-motion animation in the film has been done better in other movies. But, when the message is combined with the stop-motion animation a special treat is created, the film gets its message across in such a simple way that it seems almost too easy.
Wrap-Up:
Only two films to choose from this week, new house equals less movie watching. Of those two Balance easily takes home movie of the week honors. Until next week, watch more movies!
Cheers,
Bill
Bill's Movie Emporium 
Balance is a wonderful little short film. I’ve used it to demonstrate visual rules about the weight of images before.
I was very impressed by the way the film dealt with weight and how we cue visually to the idea of weight in films.