Every Tuesday, Chris Robinson digests and dissects (relatively) new indie animation short films. Today: A Very Lonely Cock by Leonid Shmelkov
'A Very Lonely Cock' by Leonid Shmelkov
Ah…this film from Leonid Shmelkov takes me back to some of the great Pilot animation studio films of the early 1990s. It’s strange and satirical but with a dash of compassion. The Very Lonely Cock has that precise Keatonesque comic timing you see in the work of other Russian animators like Alexey Alexeev, Konstantin Bronzit or even Mikhail Aldashin and Ivan Maximov (who are both noted in the credits).
On the surface, it’s a silly nonsense film, yet it’s also a shot at the mundanity of routine. Anyone who has had to do repetitive work…you know…like say…making an animation film or ...hey…making a festival schedule… knows that you start to lose your wits after a while.
The timing and storyline stumble a bit by the end, but it’s still a smart, well-constructed and original comic piece that doesn’t succumb to frequently tired tropes that drown most animated comedies these days.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
