To be quite frank, I expected Destino to win the Oscar and was surprised and a bit disappointed on hearing that another short had won instead. Until I finally saw Harvie Krumpet the other day. Here there be mild Spoilers.
Harvie Krumpet is both funny and frightening, sometimes at the same time. A modern-day version of Job (Job would probably look at Harvie's life and shudder), Harvie goes through a life that is tedious and tragic, all the while collecting "fakts" that are interspersed as graphics throughout the short.
There are sight gags aplenty here. You'll never look at a pair of false teeth in quite the same way after you watch this. Given that this is set from the 1920s through the 1980s, some of the references are topical and somewhat dated and I'm sure there are in-jokes and references that anyone more familiar with Australia would get that I missed, but I found this extremely engaging and well worth my time. Though there are a couple of nominees I haven't seen yet, I think that this one probably won the Oscar walking away, deserved to and certainly is no disgrace to the Academy in having done so. Happily it is currently in print. Most highly recommended.
Harvie Krumpet is both funny and frightening, sometimes at the same time. A modern-day version of Job (Job would probably look at Harvie's life and shudder), Harvie goes through a life that is tedious and tragic, all the while collecting "fakts" that are interspersed as graphics throughout the short.
There are sight gags aplenty here. You'll never look at a pair of false teeth in quite the same way after you watch this. Given that this is set from the 1920s through the 1980s, some of the references are topical and somewhat dated and I'm sure there are in-jokes and references that anyone more familiar with Australia would get that I missed, but I found this extremely engaging and well worth my time. Though there are a couple of nominees I haven't seen yet, I think that this one probably won the Oscar walking away, deserved to and certainly is no disgrace to the Academy in having done so. Happily it is currently in print. Most highly recommended.