A Single Life (2014)

Absolutely the worst movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A Single Live, the Netherlands' contribution to the Oscars this year, is the shortest Oscar nominated short film, clocking in at two minutes and length, and unfortunately, that's just a little bit too small to get this short film off the ground. Animated with a pleasant mix of what looks to be stop motion animation and computer animation, the short concerns a woman who finds her record player has the ability to transport her to different moments in her life, all the way from her infancy to her older years. By the time one figures out how this mystery works, the short is already over, and while it features a unique premise, its concision makes for an experience that's slightly forgettable.Directed by: Joris Oprins.

This film was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be mild spoilers here:It will take me longer to write this review than it took me to watch this short, which is roughly three minutes long. It's a cute, funny, clever and wicked short. It's like whipped cream on a dessert-tasty and light.The plot is that a young woman gets a 45 with a song on it. She puts it on her record player and accidentally discovers that the grooves on the record correspond to points on her lifeline.Unaware or unmindful of the admonition that it may be well for you to leave well enough alone when you know not the consequences of your actions (if you don't know what it does, don't mess with it) she starts playing with this, moving the needle around on the grooves and moves all up and down on the time-line of her life.It's done very cleverly and the ending is rather apt, I suppose. I'm not surprised by the nomination and I don't really have a problem with it in general, except that it was a very strong year for short animation, with a couple of shorts I feel are stronger than this and another of the nominees. Still, I'm glad they got recognition and I wish them luck.This short is available for download online and is well worth watching. Recommended.

"A Single Life" is the most enjoyable of the shorts by far. It's a weird story about a cutely animated girl whose record player acts much like a time machine--and she finds that she can travel back and forth in time with this machine. You'll really have to see this one for yourself to understand what I mean. However, at only 2 minutes in length, it's hard to imagine it taking the Oscar. Fortunately, the ending is quite dark and quite funny and I heard many in the audience laugh during this film. I think this Dutch film by Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen has little chance to win, but it did make me laugh as well. I certainly would love to see more from these folks, as they have a real knack for CGI and humor.

'A SINGLE LIFE': Three Stars (Out of Five) A 3 minute Dutch animated short; which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards). It was directed by Marieke Blaauw (who also wrote the film), Joris Oprins and Job Roggeveen and features Pien Feith as a voice actor. The short tells the story of a girl, named Pia, who travels back and forth through her life, by listening to a vinyl record. It's odd and funny but there's not a lot to it. It's probably not worthy of an Oscar nomination, but it is clever and somewhat amusing (in a weird way).Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/D17O2xOoOCw