The Man with the Beautiful Eyes (2000) User Reviews

kinda creepy

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 September 2009]

This film, like another reviewer pointed out, is a bit like Kurosawa's RASHOMON in that the story is told two ways--from the standpoint of the parents and from the kids. What the truth is really isn't explained. A decent idea, but some of the plot seemed creepy and the animation, while original, is also rather hard on the eyes.

Kids in the neighborhood are told to stay away from a house that is overgrown and spooky. However, one day the kids come by this house and see a man with a bottle of alcohol wander outside after he and his partner were screaming at each other. The kids see him as a great example of "a natural man" and he says hi to the kids. Later, when the place burns down, the kid reasons that his parents must have done it because they were jealous and intimidated by this "natural man". Yeah, whatever. He just seemed like some sort of creeper to me and I didn't get this film at all...

Wonderful animation with a message!

[meddlecore · 10/10 · 16 May 2005]

This is a story about America. Hodgson wonderfully animates the story written by Bukowski- one of the great American authors inspired by the beat generation. A story about a group of children whom are tempted to seek out that which their parents forbade. When they do they are pleasantly surprised, they find a fishpond with the most beautiful goldfish and a man with the most beautiful eyes they've ever seen.They feel their parents did not want them to see things so beautiful as they were ashamed they weren't as beautiful themselves. So they return one day and find that the fish are dead and the man's house has been burned down. They come to one conclusion: it was the work of their parents! They now feared that no one wanted anyone else to be strong and beautiful like the fish and man with the beautiful eyes, therefore many people will die.

The poetic narration along with the eye catching imagery holds your fascination throughout the brilliant film and leaves you with a message...If one country has so much more than another, as the US does compared to the industrializing and third world, and the youth of these less well off areas realize this, they will crave such things, inevitably leading to conflict and wars. A message for communism/socialism perhaps? We'd all be better off if we had equality of condition, rather than with the equality of opportunity which has created the world we see today? The nature of the man with the beautiful eyes (foul mouth, unkept, and drunk) leads you to believe that he represents America. His blazing eyes symbolizing the hope that youth in poorer countries see in America, causing them to strive to get there. But what these youths don't realize is that the eyes can be deceiving. Is it worth being strong and having beautiful eyes if you are unkept, foul mouthed, constantly drunk, and hated by the rest of society(or the world)? This paradox is what led the parents to destroy him, and the children to come to their conclusion. An amazing short film with an amazing message. Recommended for short film and animation lovers! 10 out 10.

Beautiful.

[Sundance26 · 9/10 · 27 May 2002]

This film took my breath away. The method is abstract animation, with a kind of beat-poem narrative. It's about how a young boy thinks his parents might be trying to kill beauty. Stunning to watch, it seems almost stream-of-conciousness... every word has a visual counterpart on the screen. Just under 6 minutes long, it's a lovely film.

Haunting and intriguing.

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 4 August 2003]

This is a very effective and compelling short that looks a perception, in this case perception through the eyes of children. Using very basic and deceptively simple hand-drawn animation (incorporating some very entertaining visual tricks along the way) this tells, in effect, two stories: the story the children see and the probable reality the audience may well ascertain from the same "facts". A bit like Rashomon, but with only one recounting onscreen. Deservedly won a BAFTA, if I recall correctly. Well worth tracking down. Most recommended.

Engagingly poetic and very nicely animated

[bob the moo · 23 June 2014]

A group of boys are told by their parents not to go near the old house near their own, which of course only encourages them to do so. They go up there frequently but decide it is empty as they never see nor hear anyone up there. One day a man comes out with a cigar and whiskey – a man who at once appears strong and manly to the boys, with blazingly beautiful eyes.

Delivered with a nicely laconic voice, this poem speaks to the impact of small things on children as they develop. In one small interaction here it seems the boys cannot see the man for who he is but rather extend their feelings of control from their parents and the "ordinariness" of them onto this guy. The contrast is nicely conveyed in the spoken word and I found the poem engaging for how well it delivered this sense. The animation around this is well crafted with images that look good and have warmth to them as they move from memory to typeface on the screen.

It is a slight piece and the wider conclusions of the ending I am not sure, but there is a beauty here, of a strong memory that shaped and stayed.