The Men in the Park

This short was funded by the National Film Board of Canada--a government organization that sponsors films (animated and non-animated). An incredibly high number of such films have been Academy Award nominated over the years in the category of Best Animated Short.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on this film. After all, I couldn't do better and the age in which it was made wasn't exactly known for quality animation. However, even for 1971, the film comes up short.

The short film has no sense of narrative in the traditional sense. It consists of simple black and white sketched backgrounds in the city with very simple people or cars moving across the screen. They all look a lot like simple scribbles. The effect looks like a slide show with some movement added. It isn't very fluid and I found myself struggling to pay attention--even though this film wasn't long at all.