— by ALLISON HIGGINBOTHAM —
The term “deja vu” is usually related to a bad premonition when it comes to films and books these days. Stephen King even defines hell as doing the same thing over and over. The animated short entitled “Deja Vu,” on the other hand, is rather cute and sweet.
It begins with an elderly man and his dog sitting on a bench in a park. The man suddenly proclaims that he’s having a feeling of deja vu and the dog non-verbally agrees. The man decides that they must do something they have never done before to break the feeling. Both break out into a series of acrobatics, but neither can shake it off. Suddenly we see the park background for what it really is: a matted background on a stage. The camera zooms out and we see the lights and curtain of the stage. The old man thanks the audience. In an undertone he also kindly thanks his dog for bringing him back “home.”
The animation by Sean Hannon is nothing spectacular, but it doesn’t diminish from the short. What works well in “Deja Vu” is the story and the length. At three and a half minutes, the viewer doesn’t get bored by the acrobatic stunts (which take up a good portion of the short), and the ending is still nice even though there isn’t a large climax towards it.
“Deja Vu” screened at the 2009 Santa Fe Film Festival and can be viewed below.
Source: Trailer Addict
Follow Allison Higginbotham on Twitter at http://twitter.com/allisonbh.
That was interesting. Thanks. 🙂