There seems to be a strong gut reaction against whimsy as of late! Brushed off as hipster/twee fluff, the films of creatives like Wes Anderson, Jean Pierre Jeunet, and other film makers who take care to present rich, vibrant colours and emotionally open protagonists, are being unfairly targeted for a so-called lack of substance. I have never found myself in this camp. I love earnestness. I don’t see it as a sign of weak story telling, but an alternate route through exaggerated emotional expression. I take pleasure from the surrealist articulations of joy, and find them to be perfect escapes from a medium filled with drab, colourless stories. For this reason, I am absolutely in love with this week’s short. Director/writer Meghann Artes has created a lovely world in which her lonely protagonist Ava (Baize Buzan) seeks love from a speed dating session at a local bar. Sure, the cast of characters she meets are exaggerated tropes, but that is perfectly acceptable given the beautiful layering of mood and colour infused throughout the short, each as important in the story telling as the words  in the script. I also have to give a shout out to her cool stop-motion animation aesthetic that she has applied to her living cast. It just adds that extra layer of whimsical delight.

Check out the short below:

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