Awesome short film composed of shots of Montreal in the 60’s (i.e. Expo ‘67-era): people, cars, architecture, lights, shapes, and so on. All set to a Pink Floyd track. Very groovy.

I saw Toy Story 3 tonight. It was fantastic: an imaginative, entertaining, and emotional rollercoaster of laughs, goose-bumps, action sequences and nostalgia—today’s cinema, par excellence.

But I’m entirely more interested in talking about the short film that precedes it—no, not that laser-driven attempt at restoring Max’s wicked old intro speech—I mean Day & Night, certainly the best commercially-produced short I’ve ever seen.

Pixar seems to have done well to keep it a secret until tonight, however, and there isn’t much copy material available just yet, so I’ve only posted the very short clip above to give you a feel for what I’m about to talk about. And here’s why I think it’s such a landmark piece:

First off, it’s ‘filmic’ in a way I’ve never seen before. Though I’ve been quietly working on a film that tells its story through the shape/edges of the screen itself, what Pixar has done with their 3D CGI-world(s) nested within a 2D cell animation is absolutely genius. It melds multiple layers of story/visuals/contexts/relationships into a single whole, thereby lending to the film a significant amount of both physical and figurative depth. In fact, this is one of my leading interests within the film world right now, and I’ve even recently written a paper about what I call implicate depth (following David Bohm). The major film project I’m working on this summer aims to have a lot of this in it, too.

Second—beyond its technical merits—the story and concepts that underlie Day & Night are right up my alley… so much so that I’ve removed pieces of my blog bio so as not to look like I plain stole the ideas from this film. But mystery truly is the beauty in life, and the unknown is not to be feared, it is to be reveled in until new knowledge can take its place, until new connections can be forged. Day & Night makes this point simply, powerfully, beautifully.

I can’t wait to watch it again.

HOME (2009) — Planet Earth meets Koyaanisqatsi meets The 11th Hour. Full film in 720p HD available on YouTube.

Pretty good doc: relatable message (though the voice-over wording is weak), inspiring score, and above all stunning photography showcasing the woes and wonders of our home planet.

I can’t emphasize enough how much each passing segment gets better than its predecessor, culminating in an end credit sequence that I wished never ended. Ironically, such a crescendo is completely out of line with the film’s call for balance; it certainly makes for a better film, though, and it’s given me new perspectives to bring into my ongoing struggle to pin down just what exactly ‘balance’ means…

Mega thanks to shaner for showing me this. I’ll simply introduce it with its youtube description:

CARTOON PORN THAT USED TO SEND PEOPLE SCREAMING FROM THE THEATER

A.K.A. “Malice in Wonderland”

Watched Igmar Berman’s Persona (1966) with Hayley and Voytek tonight, and beyond the everything that is amazing about this movie, I totally adore this single shot. There’s so incredibly much going on in terms of the staging/positioning/interplay of the two I can’t help but awe. (if you watch the movie, you’ll learn that these two ladies become entangled with one another in a few other ways, too ;)

Pas de deux (Norman McLaren, 1968, Canada)

I think this is my favorite McLaren film because its so simple and elegant yet beautiful and complex. Especially the second half. (Plus, I just wrote a term paper on implicate depth, which this film is a prime example of.)

I hope you enjoy the ensuing moment of awe and contemplation.