Comments on: Balance - animated short film

Balance - animated short film

scarabic — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:01:01 -0800

Balance is an animated short made in West Germany in 1989. I saw it at an animation festival years ago and am now pleased to see that Milk & Cookies has posted a link to a Flash version of it. I hope you enjoy. [7 mins, Flash]

By: twsf

twsf — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:22:09 -0800

Great short film. Coincidentally, I just saw it last week on display loop at the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem.

By: kickingtheground

kickingtheground — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:30:17 -0800

Double. twsf: that museum looks very interesting.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:43:44 -0800

I, for one, shuffle to the left a bit and bend over a tad.

By: Kifer85

Kifer85 — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:46:40 -0800

Wow. very cool, says a lot about greed and self-destruction.

By: DaShiv

DaShiv — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 22:05:06 -0800

Reminds me of the less existential and more abstract work by Beckett, Quad.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 22:16:58 -0800

Ah crap. Delete!

By: redteam

redteam — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 22:40:32 -0800

Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance. ... Seriously though, I'm trying to figure this one out. I believe I need some context. Anyone have interpretations?

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 23:46:41 -0800

cold war nears end.

By: litghost

litghost — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:00:02 -0800

Well I am glad this was posted again, missed it the other time. [this is good]

By: scarabic

scarabic — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:00:05 -0800

I think it's an illustration of zero sum games. And the connectedness of the actions of different people. And the tension between the desire of the individual to achieve his own full potential, even at the expense of society, when in fact society's benefit is key to his own. And working together. And being somewhere lonely with just a radio. And there's actually a completely telling sexual maneuver between jacket 23 and jacket 75 in one of the earlier scenes - watch them when they're huddled in the back as the one guy pulls the box up on deck - I swear that handjobs are exchanged. Which is clearly a statement about blue collar moralism as affects populist sexual identities in a post-cold-war paradigm of free market economies.

By: Al_Truist

Al_Truist — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 04:22:36 -0800

75: "It's a physics demonstration!" 23: "No, it's an ideological discussion!" 75: "Physics!" 23: "Ideology!" 75: "Physics!" 23: "Ideology!" 49: "Hey, hey, hey, calm down, you two. Balance is both a physics demonstration and an ideological discussion. And a floor wax!" I saw this years ago on a videotape collection of international animated shorts, and thought it was brilliant. Still do. Great, simple setup, interesting twists, and a heavy ending to keep you thinking about what it all "meant" for a long while afterwards.

By: Lush

Lush — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 04:44:11 -0800

Wow. Thanks for sharing, scarabic. This is now my new favorite short film, after The Last Red Riding Hood.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 05:27:48 -0800

That was great. I missed it before too.

By: BoringPostcards

BoringPostcards — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 07:24:01 -0800

I love this little film. I remember seeing it on "Night Flight" back in the early 90s. Thanks for the link, scarabic.

By: grimcity

grimcity — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 07:37:13 -0800

Wow, that was incredible! I missed it the first time.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 09:25:24 -0800

I, for one, shuffle to the left a bit and bend over a tad. Is Tad okay with that?

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:56:52 -0800

good post scarabic, i hadn't seen it before... i don't think it's zero sum, tho. with the right coordination, all of them could have been near to the box...that's what makes it so tragic, for me... you're definately right about the handjobs, tho... was anyone else waiting for a jack-in-box to pop up and throw someone off, or am I just low-brow?

By: Down10

Down10 — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:53:22 -0800

This reminds me of the indie animation halcyon days of the early '90s, what with Spike & Mike's Festival of Animation and MTV's Liquid Television. I miss seeing these kinds of things.