Rejected (2000)

A hilarious collection of animated television commercials that were rejected because of their creator's failing grip on sanity.

Director:

Don Hertzfeldt

Writer:

Don Hertzfeldt

Stars:

Robert May, Jennifer Nyholm, Don Hertzfeldt

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 17 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Robert May	...	Guy #1 / Guy #2 / Fluffy Guy / Ticks Announcer / Left Hand Characters (voice)
Jennifer Nyholm	...	Mother (voice)
Don Hertzfeldt	...	Spoon Guy / Banana / Queen of France (voice)

Storyline

An animator's commissioned works, rejected because of their increasingly absurd and violent tone (reflecting the animator's own progressive breakdown), eventually find their entire animated world collapsing in upon itself.

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Plot Keywords:

tearing up paper | rejection | fish stick | disaster | crushed to death | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Bitter Films page

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swedish

Release Date:

25 July 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aporriptetai

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bitter Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

9 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Don Hertzfeldt almost never uses a script during production and prefers to improvise and shape a film "as it goes along". This was no different, and much of post-production was spent radically retooling the entire piece through sound and editing. Some of the film's dialogue wasn't even written until after the film was animated and photographed, to allow for fresh improvisation and experiments.

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Goofs

France is a Republic, there is no Monarch.

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Quotes

Queen of France: [after carelessly ripping his friend's stomach off and placing it on his own head as a hat] I am the queen of France!

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Connections

Featured in Some Jerk with a Camera: It's a Small World Holiday: Part One (2011)

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Soundtracks

Nu är det jul igen
Traditional Swedish Christmas song

User Reviews

Wonderfully demented!

From the same guy that brought us "Billy's Balloon" (the cartoon where the poor kid is being tormented by his homicidal balloon and "Ah L'amour" (where a guy is viciously torn apart by women he meets) comes "Rejected", perhaps one of the most twisted pieces of animation ever captured on film.

The end result is connection of absolutely bizarre stick-figure animated vignettes that make very little sense, although they are absolutely hilarious to watch. Through the course of the film, they progressively make less and less sense, until the animated world literally falls apart.

A huge step-up from his previous works, Dan Hertzfeldt's "Rejected" is stylistically simple, although very expressive and a huge technical achievement. And it's very, very funny. You thought the kid getting abused by his balloon in "Billy's Balloon" was funny? Wait until you see what happens when a guy wearing a normal hat walks into a room with a sign that says "Funny Hats Only."