Girl in the Hallway

I saw this as part of a series of shorts at the Satisfied Eye International Film Festival and it's an animation that catches you off guard from the moment it begins. The bombastic narration and edgy animation are both unnerving and idiosyncratic at first and it's only as the narrative unfolds that you understand the creative rationale - and the sad and heart-breaking reasoning behind it. As the story and the images come together, everything begins to make sense and it makes for a rewarding ride, albeit one tinged with anger, loss and melancholy. Utterly captivating, the charcoal drawings are somehow brutal and magical at the same time. The story is simple and horrible, and so much the more so for its being real. A wonderfully original piece of work.