AFFF log

Series of Czech short stop-motion animated films.
Links: AFFF / imdb

This compilation is a good example that animation done right does not require any dialogue or understanding of a foreign language. The characters in these short films and the settings they are in are expressive enough to understand what's going on.

That being said, to me only one film really stood out, the one about the friendship between a tree and a fish. Yes, you read that correctly - it's animation people, pay attention!
This segment was heartwarming, had some good visual gags and showed the intrinsic character traits of the tree and the fish. The use of the four seasons to illustrate moments in their friendship is quite a clever device as well.

Rating: 6

description: Clay, old people, odd people, ants, dog, ear, music

(Geoffrey): (rating 6)
So here we have a review of a clay animated movie with some short stories. The best one was about a woman with a dog who visits a guy living elsewhere in the flat. The guy has some kind of dog afterlife shop in house. He lures the dog and therefore also the old woman and shows how to make a memorable photo of the dog, how to put him in a coffin, the cremation process and the urn.
Overal I found the stories a little bit slow/dull and I had problems keeping my eyes open sometimes. I gave the rating a six, since I loved the creativity and the animation, but the movie lost tons of points due to the dull stories on average.

I added a picture when we were drinking coffe afterwards. On the first day we are still fresh...wonder how it looks at the end of the week ;-)

I really liked this movie, because its so bizarre. The first part of the movie reminds me of the Jos Stelling movie De Illusionist but with puppets and the whole movie is like Buurman & Buurman on acid.

Rating : 10

"occupations, dreams and feelings of the citizens, not all human, in a city" 
Links: AFFF / imdb

Stop-motion never ceases to amaze; the complex work, the difficulty, the lengthy time it takes to create even the shortest shots. But even though the short scenes proved language merely optional for telling a story (no audible word is so much as muttered), they unfortunately showed lack of a storyline can't be neutralized by mood or setting. "Keep people curious!" reminds the writer Samuel Delany again and again. And that was absolutely lacking here: so much as slight curiosity as to what was going to happen. Too bad.

Rating: 6