Must see films

Watched two amazing short films today on the Sundance Channel: Harvie Krumpet and Ryan.

Ryan tells the story of an amazing artist whose career was very short, yet incredibly influential. The story is told in the artist's words, the words of the filmmaker who interviews him (Chris Landreth), and remarkably through the visuals. It's as though Landreth and the animators are able to visually articulate the pain of addiction, of human fragility.

Harvie Krumpet won the 2003 Oscar for best animated short, and is by Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot. It's the story of...well, Harvie. And all of us. It seems so real, I kept expecting it to be true. Yet, it's so out there, it can't be. It's described as "darkly comic," and that's the best phrase I can think of.

I highly recommend both. Sundance is running these two plus the early Wallace & Grommit shorts (wonderful) and another, but I didn't make it through the last, because Ryan and Harvie Krumpet were so intense.