Hit or Miss: Old Fangs

Old Fangs
Directed by: Adrien Merigeau
Hit or Miss: Hit.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/11/old-fangs/

Adrien Merigeau's short "Old Fangs" is one of the best I've seen, period. His style and writing help create one heavy and aesthetically beautiful short that takes a hold of you and keeps you engrossed the entire time.

The story follows a young wolf who goes with his friends into the woods in search of reconnecting with his estranged father. As he goes deeper into the woods his friends ask him if he knows where he's going. As he goes deeper he starts to remember until he finds his father's house. Hoping for something a bit more positive as he reminisces on the old times, he is disappointed to find that his father isn't exactly what he hoped for. He lives a life much different from his son and these differences don't mesh well for either. His father proves to be too powerful and forceful as well as being a bit dirty and slob-like. Disappointed, the son leaves and begins his journey home. He separates from his friends for a while and in his lone journey has flashbacks of why their relationship failed. As he goes home with his friends, the audience sees the father wolf one last time as he sobs in his house proving a glimpse weakness. The once powerful father wolf sheds his "all too tough" exterior in this final scene as he proves that even the strongest and meanest can be vulnerable as he misses the very son he pushed away.

What makes this film work is not just it's powerful and emotional storyline but it's sense of blending realness in a surreal place. As the son wolf is in this new place he feels a bit lost as he can't remember where exactly he is going. This helps to create a feeling of being lost and confused, very dreamlike, a bit surreal. Still, as he journeys into the woods and finds his father and is able to remember and feel these very powerful emotions, the dreamlike feeling of anticipation and wonder into finding home, begins to lose its magic. Anticipation is gone. Reality has struck, and this is a very real feeling. The emotions he is feeling now are very strong and relatable to a lot of people. When you lose your sense of anticipation and realize that everything you were dreaming for is everything you didn't want it to be and you are reminded as to why that is, it hits hard. As for the protagonist here, he feels reality hit as he remembers why he is estranged from his father. As these powerful feelings flee from dreamy anticipation to confusion to finally recognizing, remembering, and accepting the truth and reality are very real. The emotional rollercoaster felt by the wolf from wonder to anticipation to confusion and finally sadness are very powerful and helps create a great display of emotions for the viewer to also feel themselves as they watch his struggle.

Although filled with a lot of emotion, the storyline was able to remain simple and understandable enough for the viewer to understand without any real questions. It was concise and to the point. Despite having a simple plot and relatively simple characters, the characters themselves were developed well even in their simplicity. We don't need much story or overly complex characters to understand the insight and what is going on in the minds of each character. Even with little dialogue, we can tell that the wolf's friend share empathetic and show concern for their friend. Even as the wolf son doesn't speak very much in his journey, we can see the emotions and feel as if we can read his thoughts along the way. When he walks home, we can sense his disappointment without having a lot of dialogue needing to explain along the way. Being able to portray emotions and thoughts without having to explain it in words is something every filmmaker should strive to be able to do.

The artistic element of the film without a doubt plays a very large role in this short. The shots of real images, photographs of the woods, intertwined with the animation gives us a very aesthetically beautiful look and also helps to tie in nicely with the surrealism blended with realism theme that is present throughout. While the photographs are lovely, the hand drawn animation which is shown predominantly in the film is very visually appealing. The style of the animation is unique and I personally really liked the way in which the characters were drawn. By giving the animals anthropomorphic features, the wolf and his friends having tall and slender bodies standing upright and wearing clothes, was not only interesting in an artistic and stylish way but also helped make them feel more human which in turn helps us as the audience empathize with their emotions when we feel we can relate to them. I also found it interesting to see that whereas the son wolf and his friends wear clothes the father wolf is shown to be naked. I believe that this is an artistic decision made purposefully by the filmmaker to help portray the wolf and his friends as more human and the father wolf to be shown as much more savage (which ties in perfectly with his personality as the brash and beastly personality).

The use of color was also another stylistic element that I found to be used very well in this film. As the emotions of the character changed, the colors would change to help reflect the mood of what was going on at the time. Depending on the scene, there could be yellows, reds, blues, or greens used to help convey the feeling. This deliberate and particular use of color worked wonderfully.

One of my favorite things about this short was it's use of sound and in particular, the score. It was beautiful and powerful and worked perfectly, altering slightly to fit each feeling and mood appropriately. Music can really make a big difference in conveying emotions and in this case it was a brilliant touch.

After finishing this short, I believe that this was absolutely one of my favorites that we have watched this year. The beautiful imagery, developed characters, original and emotionally gripping plot, excellent use of color and sound, really helped work together to create a fantastic short.

This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Hit.