I think it was in Parks & Rec where one of the characters decided to take up stop-motion and, after pouring loads of time into it, had a few seconds of a character walking (badly) across a room – the end. I think this joke is the reason why I have such love for this as a type of animation, because, although all creative projects are work, there is a very clear painstaking process at work in the constant and tiny manipulation of characters to make them move. Even more impressive though, as the P&R joke also contains, is that making the animation move is easy compared to taking all those minute movements, and making them a great product.
Oh Willy... manages to do both of these things, although being honest it is the technical aspect that really made it stand out for me. Everything appears to have been made out of wool in some form or other, and it has a great visual 'feel' to the film with a fuzzy wooly texture across all the characters. The animation has great movement, and also very impressive creation of wide shots and close- ups; it looks so good it is easy to forget just how much work must have gone into this. It should not take away from the story though, which is wonderfully odd.
It starts with moments from a childhood spend in a nudist colony, the passing of a mother, and ultimately leads to the man finding peace in a most unusual place. I am not entirely sure it works as a story in and of itself, but the film very much contains and sells its own oddity – so it works I the context of the film itself, which means it works more or less. It is an impressive piece in regard to many aspects, and it is certainly a piece to admire.
