We continue with our review of selected animation shorts from the recent TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) DigiCon6 Award animation entries from Singapore. You can actually watch all 19 entries from the Viddsee website here. To find out more about the competition, check out our previous introduction.
Here our take on Suicide Lover. Suicide Lover is directed by Gerald Kang. You can watch Suicide Lover via this link.
The suicide lover starts off with elements found in silent films of the past and the music is well-chosen for the suspenseful story spanning just 4 minutes. Very quickly, we are introduced to the main character, a nameless dude bearing trait marks of your average Joe, scrawny with dull colored hair, who has just awoken to a rude shock that he has a bomb in his head that will explode unless he falls in love by midnight.
This gives us two impossible possibilities happening at this moment – A bomb in a human skull? And to fall in love on whim? Without questioning this implausibility, our main lead jumps out of bed and hurries to leave his house, his life hanging on a rope. Then, a heart-stop moment as he sees this absolutely charming girl (great job on the graphics, because for animation standards she is definitely a looker), who he deliver a professional pick-up on so successfully that she agrees to go on a date with him.
The next scenes are light-hearted and clichéd, with our male lead and his heroine doing the usual stuff couples do on their first dates; watching a movie, dining at a fancy restaurant, eating gelato on cobblestone streets, and they end their evening together sitting on bench, talking in the park. As our male lead finally tries to seal his love with a kiss before the clock strikes twelve, it is to the audience’s delight that his heroine leans in, willing to save him. But then the unexpected happens.
Not giving away the twist, it can just be said here that he has lost in this game, despite having his head intact.
It is a theme that has been written about over and over again, love; first love, forced love, lost love, but Gerald Kang and team takes a storyline seemingly simple and weaves intricate emotions into the animation. Regardless my never having been a fan of animation, I enjoyed the suicide lover for the way it was told. Maybe this will lead to my foray into animation, who knows, but I am certain this short will always be one I'll remember.
Review by Gwen K
Gwen is very happy to be writing for SINdie because it marries her love for film and words.
When not reading, writing or making short films with friends during her spare time,
Gwen plays Michelangelo and designs the next piece of artwork that is to be painted on her nails.