Reviews & Ratings for
Father and Daughter More at IMDbPro »

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22 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Moved to tears in 8 minutes, 3 November 2002
Author: gratayl from Aberdeen, Scotland

I was lucky enough to see this at an animation masterclass in Glasgow in 2001. Thankfully the lights were dimmed when they showed this so we could all cry in the dark.

A masterpiece that does not waste a single frame. Stylish and straight to the emotional nerve.

The feeling of longing in this short is almost suffocating. Longing is such a strong emotion that is not expressed often enough in cinema. If anyone in film can get half as close to true longing as "Father and Daughter" they will touch the audience for life.

People MUST see this. Someone out there - What about a compilation video of "10 Years of Animated Shorts Oscar Winners" Please?

14 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
An extraordinary piece of film that deserves to be in print and widely seen., 24 April 2003

Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

In my view, this piece is the equal to The Man Who Planted Trees (which is high praise indeed) and it should be in print and widely available. Sadly, all too many short animated pieces are not in print (or even seen, these days) and this reality will not be altered any time soon, I'm afraid. End of sermon.

Father and Daughter is simply breathtaking. The whole package-music, backgrounds, animation, story-everything is excellent, with nary a misstep. Basic themes repeat throughout and the attention to detail is extraordinary! Particularly watch toward the end, the shadows and the interaction of movement. That this won the Academy Award and deserved to is an understatement. There were three exceptional nominees, all of which is a testament to the committee overseeing the shorts nomination process. So far as I'm aware, only one (Rejected) is in print. I saw Father and Daughter on The Sundance Channel, as part of Shorts Program 103. Most highly recommended.

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
The best short film I've ever seen, 3 October 2005

Author: googboog (ranakar@gmail.com) from Atlantis

A friend of mine dropped of a CD at my house with a number of short films in them. I was watching them one by one, forwarding the boring parts in some of them. And then this one started. What can I say? I was crying like a six year old girl by then end of the movie, not just because it's sad. It's beautiful, the attention to detail, the ambient sounds, the music. Everything adds up perfectly. I don't think any other short will ever come close to this.

You have to get your hands on this piece, show it to everyone you know. I didn't even know about it till a few days back. Films like these inspire others to do something creative....

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Incredibly moving, 3 June 2004
Author: Garth-8 from North Wales

This short film apparently took 8 years to make and it shows.

I saw it as part of an arts degree programme at NEWI, Wrexham where it was used to demonstrate to the Level 1 audience what empathy (the subject of the next essay) could be.

The artwork shows what can be achieved with the utmost economy of line, no massive Disney or Pixar art work here. It is truly incredible the depth of emotion that such an apparently very simple, short film can bring out. It certainly made the 'empathy' point, I defy anybody with any kind of normal human feelings not to be moved by this film.

I heartily recommend this film if you can get to see it.

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
An extraordinary Gem, 6 July 2001

Author: (s.devries) from Paris, France

Father and Daughter is one of the most touching pieces of art I have ever seen. Although the movie only lasts eight minutes, the effect on its audience will probably last a lifetime. To describe 'Father and Daughter' as beautiful is just an understatement. Go see this gem and be amazed yourself.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
destined to be a classic, 11 September 2006

Author: CountZero313 from Japan

Father and Daughter is a perfect piece of animation film-making. People 'worry' that it won't be seen, but we have postings here from Germany, Scotland, USA... Here in Japan, the film got a theatrical release, the shortest movie ever to achieve that in Japan. I have been screening it to film students for three years, and in this year's class one student had seen it already. This film takes one traumatic event in the life of a young woman and focuses on it to the exclusion of all others. It doesn't reduce her life to that single motif - the film acknowledges that a fuller life is lived off-screen, as her family accompanying her in several scenes implies. Some filmmakers will work their whole careers and never have their audience achieve the level of catharsis in Father and Daughter. Quite simply breathtaking in its economy and elegance.

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Poetry in Motion, 5 March 2008

Author: ShortoftheWeek from United States

In 2000, Father and Daughter won the Academy Award for Best Short Film for its Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit. For such a short (eight minutes) movie it has a remarkable capacity to move an audience. The story of a father who leaves his daughter and rows off into the ocean, it commences with two figures riding their bicycles, the smaller of the wheels in perfect symmetry with the larger. The father and daughter climb to the top of a hill at which point the father alights, hugs his daughter before climbing down to the seashore. He cannot resist running back and holding the girl one last time before rowing off towards the distant horizon. The girl runs up and down against the skyline as the sun gradually sets. There is no explanation. She returns again and again to her vantage point on the cliff to peer out to sea for his return. Each return marks a passage in her life from child to adolescent, mother and eventually old woman. And still she returns to search for the father who left her.

The landscape of the Netherlands with its wide skies and tall poplar trees is the backdrop to the movie. The sky and landscape is a delicate colour wash of brown, grey, sepia, sometimes hints of green or blue. The drawing is pencil and charcoal, the drawings scanned and colour added digitally. Remarkably in a film that deals in emotion, there is no facial detail whatsoever. Often the figures are drawn in silhouette. This can be remarkably effective in conveying mood: the old woman toiling up the hill, the flapping arms of the child, the teenager gliding down the slope on her bike, which in another later scene will simply not stand upright. Always the brushwork is spare, perhaps a stroke that transforms into a slender girl or a smudge for the squared old woman. Each shot is exquisite: the long shadows of trees or bicycle; seascape and sky, vast and empty. The seasons change with a rustle of leaves or the girl struggling up the hill against a wind that bends trees. The music by Norman Roger is sympathetic to the theme, essentially a lilting tune but arranged with tone and depth.

This astonishingly accomplished and poetic movie fulfils in every sense. Michael Dudok de Wit was born in 1953 and educated in Holland. In 1978, he graduated from the West Surrey College of Art in England. His films include Tom Sweep (1992), The Monk and the Fish (1994) and The Aroma of Tea (2006). You might also have seen the rather classy commercial for United Airlines, A Life. Given his draftsman-like qualities, Michael is much in demand as an illustrator for books. My Christmas present from my family, and well recommended, was Best of British Animation Awards Vol.4 that includes Michael's Oscar winning short.

Read this and other online film reviews at www.ShortoftheWeek.com

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Wow do I feel a bit out of step!, 13 February 2008

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

Wow. After watching FATHER AND DAUGHTER and then reading all the wonderfully positive reviews, I sure feel out of step with most everyone. While I would agree that FATHER AND DAUGHTER is moving as it tries very hard to evoke an emotional reaction, to me it just didn't have the same emotional impact. Was it a good film? Sure. It had lovely music and while the animation was very simple, it did fit the mood well. But I just didn't feel as strongly about the film as everyone else seemed to. In fact, while FATHER AND DAUGHTER received the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2001, I really preferred the super-dark yet graphically superior THE PERIWIG-MAKER. However, I will also be honest and admit that FATHER AND DAUGHTER has a much higher rating and many who reviewed THE PERIWIG MAKER felt it was just too dark and depressing. To each his or her own. Of course, I also think I preferred the other runner up, REJECTED, because at least it elicited an emotional reaction within me. With FATHER AND DAUGHTER, I just felt a bit let down thanks to all the hype.

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Young Girl Longs for Departed Father, 17 February 2005

Author: TRunfalo from Carencro LA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The film is very touching although I am confused about the father's actions at the very beginning. Why would he do what he did? Also, I believe the ending would have been much more effective if she had morphed into the little girl he left behind, instead of morphing into a young woman.

All in all, the film is very touching and melancholy with beautiful music and extremely well placed and well done "bicycle bell" ringing and other sound effects.

Independent Film Channel has aired this beautiful little film several times and each time I see it I am more and more attracted to it.

5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Sublime, 13 April 2001

Author: Daniel Perras from Hull, Québec

This short animated film just blew me away. Absolutely beautiful. Too bad no one will see it! The drawing, the story, the pace, the music, everything works. I'm glad it won the Oscar for best animated short film, it deserves it!

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