Ryan (2004)

Director:

Chris Landreth

Genre:

Documentary | Animation | Short | Biography | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

The movie talks about the life of Ryan Larkin, a gifted Canadian animator of the late '60s and the early '70s.

Plot Keywords:

Animator | 1970s | Producer | Restroom | 1960s

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 20 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Ryan Larkin	...	Interview Voice (voice)
Chris Landreth	...	Interview Voice (voice)
Felicity Fanjoy	...	Interview Voice (voice)
Derek Lamb	...	Interview Voice (voice)

Runtime:

Canada:14 min | Argentina:14 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | USA:TV-PG | Argentina:Unrated

Company:

Canada Council for the Arts

Trivia:

The Pinhead clown from Chris Landreth's Bingo (1998) makes a cameo appearance near the end of the film.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Chris: Hi, my name is Chris and I'm here to explain some things.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Alter Egos (2004/I)

Best animated short

This is not your typical animated short. It's not something you'd normally see before a full length feature at the cinema. It's more complex, and deep as it is fun and entertaining. There are, however elements of that too.

"Ryan" is a story about Ryan Larkin, an innovative, talented and gifted Canadian artist from the late 60s and early 70s. Director Chris Landreth plays himself, only a much more animated version. His body is breaking apart, his memories are haunting him and he's much more interested in the late artist instead of his own life. He introduces us to Ryan, voiced by Ryan Larkin himself, and tells us that he's on the verge of breaking down (literally). The story then starts playing out very visually as Ryan starts explaining the troubles of being an artist and how many are not respected and poor.

The visual style of this is enchanting. It goes through 3D animation, to pencil drawing, to painting, to sketches. Really unique in the sense that it stimulates your eye and allows you to see much more in the screen than most animated features do in a full scene. There are relative clues as to the depth of the main character, and how he's nostalgic of the past, and stricken by the disease of poverty ('Spare change? Thank you, sir, you're very kind.').

Chris starts out by telling us that he's about to explain some things to us. We expect him to tell us a story of Ryan, which has a regular narrative structure in which there's a beginning, a climax and the end. However, he tells us this story in a series of flashbacks, interviews, and visuals. That's where the interesting part really kicks in. Friends of Ryan are brought in through different forms of animation, and they explain to us just how Ryan's life has been.

Every little detail of this movie is flawless. We see a closeup of Ryan and his jaw-dropping realistic face, we see that when he smokes and freezes the camera circles him, exposing every millimeter of perfection, from the smoke to the back of his deformed head. Each shot is so well animated, and yet so deep that it's no wonder it won at the Oscars (ironically since Ryan Larkin was at the Oscars in 1969 and lost only to become unsuccessful and poor). "Ryan" shows us that you can make an animated short that isn't targeted at kids, and have it both entertaining and thought-provoking.