Skhizein (2008)

Director:

Jérémy Clapin

Writers:

Jérémy Clapin (writer)
Stéphane Piera (supervising writer)

Genre:

Animation | Short

Plot:

Having been struck by a 150-ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely ninety-one centimeters from himself. |

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Julien Boisselier

...

(voice)

Runtime:

13 min

Country:

France

Color:

Color

Company:

Dark Prince

A man out of touch with himself . . . . . by 91 centimetres.

Part of the fun and joy of being a movie fan in touch with so many other movie fans (thanks to the wonder of the internet) is discovering little gems that I would never have otherwise heard of. Skhizein is one such gem and I can only continue to thank the person who recommended it.

An animated short that runs for only 13 minutes, this tells the rather comical and yet sad story of a man affected by a meteorite in a most peculiar way. Once he has been struck he finds that his body is now constantly 91 centimetres from where it should be. To open a door, sit down, answer his telephone, etc, he has to perform all of the actions exactly 91 centimetres away from where he normally would, laws of physics having taken a long walk off a short pier.

With a warm, wonderfully rendered style and a mixture of great detail and enjoyably abstract moments, this little piece of animation is, quite frankly, an absolute joy. The bizarre central concept is brilliantly realised and handled so well that you never laugh AT the ridiculousness of the whole thing although you do get a chance to laugh ALONG with a number of great moments.

Writer-director-animator Jérémy Clapin is someone I hope continues to produce great work and go on to even bigger and better things. On the strength of the quality on display here, he most certainly deserves it.

See this if you like: Being John Malkovich, Les triplettes de Belleville AKA Belleville Rendez-Vous, Pi.