Tennis, Oranges

Before I got to see Director, Writer Sean Pecknold's highly acclaimed stop-motion film Tennis, Oranges, at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology, I didn't know what to expect. The title was a mystery to me and the image on the poster with the shadow of a flying rabbit in a tennis court got me even more curious and intrigued. After finally watching the film on the big screen at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry I have to say: Tennis, Oranges is a truly magnificent film and work of art! Later I found out that the film was based on true events during the pandemic in Los Angeles where the filmmaker - being stuck like all of us during Covid- observed the happenings across the street - a Chinese community center. The director somehow managed to transform his observations and experiences to create a beautiful, serene metaphorical fairy tale that talks as much about the beauty and mystery of life and ordinary things as much as it does about our mortality and does so without sentimentality but true heart and soul. The film - in Mandarin and subtitled in English - is masterfully executed from animation, music (Claude Debussy) to incredible production design by Adi Goodrich. I highly recommend this film to anyone and can't wait to see what 'rabbit' Sean will pull out of his hat next!