Alma

My god do I remember this! This is a movie me and my friend saw on a Croatian zoo-week, Divlje ljeto, or on English Wild Summer. Every lunch we would get sandwiches and chocolate, and watch short films we found on YouTube. Well, Alma was one of them. When we watched it, we FREAKED OUT! I didn't sleep alone for 2 weeks! I still sometimes get that touchy feel, even right now, as I'm reviewing this, that a doll of myself is right behind me, trying to get me possess it. I went to Wild Summer in 2012, and then, in 2016, I have finally decided to watch it again. And the experience was not at all different. Of course, now I wasn't a scaredy cat as before, cuz now I'm used to horror, but it was as creepy to me. If you love scary animations, like Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas, I think you could watch it. But, if you don't like creepy things, stay away from this!

I really liked the opening scenes of this short animation as the snow falls on the rooftops of a small town. Then we meet the joyful "Alma" as she playfully skips through the streets before alighting outside a shop window where there is a doll that could be her own spitting image. Indeed there are few in this shop, but the door is locked. Or is it? Once she has gone in, though, you start to feel just a little nervous, like something sinister is about to happen... Just who exactly are all these dolls? The quality of the production here is impressive and the characterisations not just of "Alma" but of the boy on the wind-up bike - who rather gave the game away for me, also work quite eerily well as this takes the ideal of toys as playful and benevolent and turns it on it's head.

The beauty of this little film is the incredible creations of the dolls and the little girl. Her face is so expressive as she ponders the mysteries of the shop. She never wavers in coming into a place where there is no human element and we adults are suffering internally, knowing that something is coming. We ask, "What is this place"? We also suddenly become aware of the wall where Alma adds her name to countless other names. Wow!

One of the best shorts I have seen. Thought provoking and very well done. Great animation and dark instead of "Disney" happy. It even inspired an Indian short, which I was instantly reminded off. Would be great to see this turn into a longer feature film. Sign me up!

a girl. and the window of a doll shop. a door opened after a first failed attempt. and a lot of dolls. a film who, at the first level, reminds a lot of old classic fairy tales, few Gothic literature ,few page of books about magic, giving a beautiful example of animation. at the second sigh, a magnificent story. because its end defines the importance of each small detail. the wall with names, the boy searching escape, the snow and the thin line between fiction and reality. and Alma is the perfect image of the curiosity, naivety, life as game and innocence. the fascination of Alma front the doll remains the most seductive detail. because it reminds images from the childhood of viewer. because it is lovely symbol of desire. and the world as a version of fairy tale.