Negative Space

Some creative and inventive moments. The underwater bits were great. I really enjoyed how the animation brought the various luggage components to life. But the entire short was a set-up for one punchline at the end, basically. The ending was good, and got laughs out of everyone in the theater, but it wasn't enough to justify the whole 5 minutes spent before it.

The animation was creative and pleasant to watch, but the audio (in English) was grating throughout. Sounded amateur, compared to the level of quality of animation and the overall level of quality of all the other Oscar nominated shorts. The narrator sounded like he was speaking into a cheap microphone, the sound effects didn't sync up evenly with the visuals, and the volume was too loud.

This was the worst of the Oscar nominated animation shorts I watched for 2017.

"Look at all that wasted space, look at all that wasted Time" One of the best Father Son Stories ever made even if it's only a 5 min Short Film, The level of creativity is stunning.

Beautiful animation. Sometimes death just leaves behind some weird trademarks from the person who is no longer with us. I completely identify with this little story. Its emotion is in its simplicity. The negative space for me is also the negative space in the heart of this little boy who has grown up and could never connect more with his dad.

I'm not usually a fan of stop motion, but this animated short completely exceeded my expectations. I initially underestimated it after reading the outline, but I was proven wrong.

First, the story is emotional, touching, and deeply relatable. It genuinely feels like it's drawn from someone's real-life experiences-particularly the relationship with a father who was often away traveling for work, while other kids' dads were at home playing with them. Yet, despite the distance, a meaningful bond was formed through the suitcase. The film even manages to slip in a bit of humor along the way.

Second, the visual creativity is outstanding. The symbolism throughout is powerful, and several scenes-like the zipper moment and the ocean sequences-are absolutely brilliant and visually stunning. It's not something I ever expected to say about a stop motion animation.

How do fathers and sons connect? Is it by playing games? By hugging? To this day, I'm not sure how my father and I ever did it, although we did.... I'd like to think so, anyway. I know after I spoke at my father's memorial service (and my brother didn't), he smiled and said "That's who he was to you." In this animated short, a father and son connect by the father, a traveling salesman, teaching his son how to do something very important to him: pack a suitcase well.

The piece is a trifle about trifles, yet anyone who has ever cared deeply about another individual will tell you that it's not the big things that matter, but the trifles that no one else notices that gets you through, the secrets out in the open. I'm not certain how much the visual choices add to this short -- animating it as a computer-derived claymation piece is odd. The choices don't really have time to affect the impact, as it is short enough to maintain its impact.