La Maison en Petits Cubes (2009)

That was an excellent one.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Gretings from Lithuania."Tsumiki no ie" (2008) is a very good short animated movie. The settings, plot are nothing short of amazing. This is a very sad and beautiful story about life, beautiful moments in our life which live only in our memories when time comes to the end. The idea behind this little picture is amazing. No wonder it won Oscar for the best short animated movie. Overall, this is wonderful little gem that should be watched and appreciated by people who already lived and have some experience in their lives.

I really enjoyed this animated 12-minute short film. And so did the Academy as they gave it the Oscar over Pixar's possibly most acclaimed short-film "Presto" and a couple others. The difference may be that, while it was possibly not as witty and fast-moving as Pixar's, it had more heart than on organ bank. Its premise is as odd as it's interesting as we see an old man forced to build cubes up his house (that almost looks like a castle at this point) to counter the constantly rising tide. After he does so, he dives down the house and reaches cubes in which he lived before. This is where he is reminded of significant moments of his past, such as his wife or his childhood. The rising-tide idea to make the old man reminisce deep down in the water is nothing short of brilliant and the memory sequences are quite touching and effective especially with the sudden shift back to present and the man being alone in his diving-suit. A truly harmonic score perfectly fits the tone of the movie.Also the people behind this short film are quite interesting. Voice actress Masami Nagasawa is only in her mid-20s, but has already been in over 50 movies and Kunio Kato who wrote and directed this little gem gave one of the most entertaining speeches in recent Oscar history. Domo arigato Mr. Kato! It's a shame he hasn't directed another film in the 5 years since then. I'd be thrilled to see a feature film of his, one where the animation is equally vintage and timeless as in this one. I recommend it a lot and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more when I approach the main character's age.

I don't know why at least two people in other comments write about „flood caused (probably) by global warming".To me, the flood is purely metaphorical. It's the time that is cruel and forces us to move on, to the next stage of our lives even if we don't want to, because we feel happy where we are, even if we maybe would like to stay there a little bit longer. But we cannot. The rising water forces us to go on. There's no exception.The old man from the movie travels back in time to watch again the memories of his life but also, as we all know, he becomes aware all those moments are absolutely gone. It's not possible to live underwater – we can only submerge for a moment to have a look at what is there that is all we can do.This is a movie about life, about being old and lonely, NOT about the global warming nonsense.

Until this day I've never wanted to post a comment even on my favorite movies, but I could not help saying a word about this loveliest, brilliant little animation. When I watched it for the first time I had a feeling of warmth, serenity and happiness. I was happy that human beings can still create such beautiful things in this world. I am amazed at how the director managed to put so many feelings and thoughts in this tiny piece of animation and I want to thank Mr. Kunio Katô for doing that. My congratulations Mr. Katô, you've added a beautiful piece to the art of animation :) And at last but not least I want to mention the music of the movie, it PERFECTLY fits every inch of the film and creates a harmonious unity of sound and image. I hope you will enjoy watching La Maison en petits cubes as much as I did :)