LAVATORY LOVE STORY is a Russian cartoon about a lonely lady who is an attendant in a public bathroom. While it is a relatively common practice in Europe, many Americans might be surprised to see people pay to enter a toilet as well as having someone of the opposite sex cleaning the restroom. Also, it's interesting to note that everything is written in English--not Russian.
Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.
LAVATORY LOVE STORY is the most surprising of the nominees. That's because usually the animated films are extraordinary when it comes to the artwork, yet this film has very, very simple animation--so simple I am surprised it received the nomination. By comparison, last year's Russian nominee (MY LOVE) was like a moving impressionist painting and LAVATORY LOVE STORY consists of simple black and white drawings. To the film's credit, despite having ordinary artwork, the story is very enjoyable. Deep? No. But very cute and pleasant. But, once again, not special enough, in my opinion, to merit a nomination--especially when some of the commended films were clearly better.
Because of all these factors, I consider this film to be the definite "dark horse" of the five nominees--with what appears to be the least chance of taking the award. Still, it's enjoyable and worth seeing.
UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but saw the film as a strong contender.
