Tsumiki no Ie

In a matter of 12 minutes, Le Maison en Petits Cubes tells a simple tale of growing old that leaves you staring at your wistful expression on the black screen long after the credits have rolled.

This Oscar winning short film (Best Animated Short Film in 2009, making this the second ever anime to win an Oscar, although whether this truly is anime is a debate best left for later) is about a grumpy old man who builds additional levels onto his home in order to escape the water that is flooding his town. While rummaging through the lower levels, he is flooded with memories of ... his life and how the eternal continuum of time filled his journey with speckles of happiness and inklings of sorrow.

With the entire world as a metaphor for life and the passage of time itself, this artsy animated short sends you spiraling down memory lane and as you glimpse through the old man's life, you are posed with questions that we think about but never truly answer: If you were to contemplate on your life right now, what do you think would be the moments that you would take to your grave? How long will the people who matter now in your life be around? Is this what your parents go through and is this what you will go through too? For a "film" with no voice acting, it has a voice, as brief as it may be.

To accentuate the wistfulness of Le Maison en Petits Cubes comes a wonderfully orchestrated violin and piano combination that breathes life into the gloomy colors. Speaking of the colors, the animation itself is done in a Van Gough-esque style, much like the one in The Diary of Tortov Riddle. It sometimes feels like you're flipping through the pages of a gloomy picture book.

Drenched with meaning, seasoned with style and pregnant with emotions, Le Maison en Petits Cubes is 12 minutes well spent, although the feeling it leaves you with will last much longer.

Okay, fine. You got me. I admit I didn't fully understand this short, it has a deep meaning that I can't quite grasp because my mind just kept thinking “Why did everything suddenly fill up with water?”. I don't have much to say about it. The short lasts 12 minutes and tells you from beginning to end a story that you do understand, but in my case, I did not understand the meaning. It has no dialogue, however, it is not necessary to understand or empathize with the protagonist, you know what he is feeling when he remembers certain things, you can understand the sadness ... of the protagonist with certain changes in his life, but still... Why did everything fill with water? What does the water symbolize?

Unlike most of the other reviewers who pissed themselves stupid with some notion that this is a masterpiece of some metaphorical/philosophical greatness. It's not. There I said it, it is really a waste of 12ish minutes of your life. If you're a student of art definitely watch it, or if you're like me and "like art but nah not my bag", then don't waste your time.

Pros: Artsy, nothing else.

Cons: Bad music, no acceptable lines of speech, non-interesting or intriguing characters, story has little to no substance.

If there was some story attesting to how this world became flooded and why does it keep rising, or interaction ... between neighbors then there would be a story but there is none. Smoke, stare, eat, maybe build, brood about things that were, that really is the extent of this "anime".