Recently, I was browsing Netflix for something new to watch and among a bunch of high energy over the top animes I stumbled across a short film called The House of Small Cubes. The film only takes twelve minutes, but tells a beautiful little story within that short time span. It was directed by Kunio Kato and despite it being ten years old already it tells a rather timeless story. Which is probably a good reason for it winning the Oscar for best short film.
I don't want to give away too much about the story of the film, but I will tell you that it tells the tale of an old men, who lives alone in a very tall house. The house is so extraordinarily tall, because the city where he lives is suffering from very high water levels, causing the man to have to build his house higher and higher each time the water rises. One day, the old man loses a dear possession in his house, which sinks a couple of levels. The man decides to get a diving suit and starts looking for it. During his diving down his own house, he encounters much more than just the possession he was looking for.
What is so charming about this film is the art style. It is a very toned down color palette, which gives the film a kind of comforting feel to it. Moreover, the animations are very textured, which not only gives the film a bit of an old feel, but makes it feel alive at the same time. Whenever the old man moves, we not only see the lines of his limbs move, but the texture of his pants and sweater changes as well. This also becomes very clear in the animation of the water, which really glistens in the sun. While the perspective and the shadows are far from life-like some of the time, the almost charcoalesque animations make the movie feel very authentic. There's a small detail about the setting of some of the scenes that I very much appreciated and therefore really wanted to mention: the old man's room is very much reminiscent of The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh and I really like such a nod to famous artworks.
There is a very clear difference between objects that play a part in the story and are therefore animated and the background of the story, which looks like the pre-rendered backgrounds in point-and-click games. Normally, this difference could give away some spoilers about the story, but here it isn't necessarily disadvantageous for the story, as the story is more about feeling and a sense of deep emotions than it is about plot. Despite the story being centered around a certain feeling, it isn't overly dramatic. Sure, it is a sad movie in way, but it also creates a feeling of content and being at peace with the loss the man has suffered. Everything about what he does seems to still be out of love for what he once had.
The music for this movie was written by Kenji Kondo and really compliments the visual aspects of the film. Music and image seem to always be in balance. The music is used to create a sense of homeliness, but also of melancholy. Since no-one in the movies talks, the music is only interrupted by the sounds of the environment, like the birds flying by, or the sounds object in the house of the old man make. The presence of just these sounds are doing a great job at conveying the loneliness of the man, while the musical compositions really transfer you to the memories and how beautiful it must have been when the old man was a bit younger.
All in all, I think this movie is a sweet little movie, almost ambient-like. Everything seems to fit and work with each other and the traditional trope of being alone is presented in an almost calming way.
I don't want to give away too much about the story of the film, but I will tell you that it tells the tale of an old men, who lives alone in a very tall house. The house is so extraordinarily tall, because the city where he lives is suffering from very high water levels, causing the man to have to build his house higher and higher each time the water rises. One day, the old man loses a dear possession in his house, which sinks a couple of levels. The man decides to get a diving suit and starts looking for it. During his diving down his own house, he encounters much more than just the possession he was looking for.
What is so charming about this film is the art style. It is a very toned down color palette, which gives the film a kind of comforting feel to it. Moreover, the animations are very textured, which not only gives the film a bit of an old feel, but makes it feel alive at the same time. Whenever the old man moves, we not only see the lines of his limbs move, but the texture of his pants and sweater changes as well. This also becomes very clear in the animation of the water, which really glistens in the sun. While the perspective and the shadows are far from life-like some of the time, the almost charcoalesque animations make the movie feel very authentic. There's a small detail about the setting of some of the scenes that I very much appreciated and therefore really wanted to mention: the old man's room is very much reminiscent of The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh and I really like such a nod to famous artworks.
There is a very clear difference between objects that play a part in the story and are therefore animated and the background of the story, which looks like the pre-rendered backgrounds in point-and-click games. Normally, this difference could give away some spoilers about the story, but here it isn't necessarily disadvantageous for the story, as the story is more about feeling and a sense of deep emotions than it is about plot. Despite the story being centered around a certain feeling, it isn't overly dramatic. Sure, it is a sad movie in way, but it also creates a feeling of content and being at peace with the loss the man has suffered. Everything about what he does seems to still be out of love for what he once had.
The music for this movie was written by Kenji Kondo and really compliments the visual aspects of the film. Music and image seem to always be in balance. The music is used to create a sense of homeliness, but also of melancholy. Since no-one in the movies talks, the music is only interrupted by the sounds of the environment, like the birds flying by, or the sounds object in the house of the old man make. The presence of just these sounds are doing a great job at conveying the loneliness of the man, while the musical compositions really transfer you to the memories and how beautiful it must have been when the old man was a bit younger.
All in all, I think this movie is a sweet little movie, almost ambient-like. Everything seems to fit and work with each other and the traditional trope of being alone is presented in an almost calming way.
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