The National Film Board of Canada sponsored a lot of animated films over the years and because of that Canadians have done amazingly well in the category of Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars. The Bead Game is yet another of these films, though I have got to admit that it's not nearly the film that Patel's Oscar-winning short, PARADISE, is a much better film--with breathtaking animation and a wonderful story. Here, in a film made almost a decade earlier, the animation style is far less spectacular and appears to be made from thousands of little beads. Like Paradise, the story is secondary to the animation but in this case the lesser quality of the visuals make this an interesting but especially compelling film.
Review of The Bead Game
