Lily and Jim

I confess to not having seen a whole lot of Don Hertzfeldt's work (although I've thoroughly enjoyed what I've seen) but "Lily and Jim" is his most mature work so far. Nothing big, just the nervousness of two people on a blind date. And it's brought to life by grade-school artwork (except for the precision mouth synching, which show a talented hand at work). But it's the dialog that really makes this tick; the self-imposed barriers and flimsy excuses we erect to explain away a failed relationship . Not to mention the forced small talk. This is very true-to-life and it's a delight.

7/10

This short was in part four of the "Short Cinema Journal"--a film I rented from Netflix but which appears to have originally been a monthly film series for people who like mediocre modern short films AND love to have the DVD chock full of commercials. I have so far tried two of the Journal's DVDs and felt enraged at the horrible way that a viewer needs to navigate the disk in order to see the films. Talk about an over-produced and overly complicated way of doing this! While I have and will continue to see as many shorts as I can, I really doubt if I'll bother with the Journals because of these factors.

LILY AND JIM was probably my favorite film in the set, though it was rather slow going at first. It begins with two terribly animated and nerdy characters talking about going on a blind date. The artwork reminded me of Don Hertzfeldt's but I didn't know for sure until later that it was indeed his work. I knew for sure when the couple turned on the television--the art and especially the very sick (and funny) minute or so the set was on was the highlight of the film. Apart from this, the film is quite cute and it was very insightful into the hazards of dating--especially for folks who aren't as charming or clever as folks on TV (in other words, most of us!).

I feel bad for Hertzfeldt. He has a great sense of humor, he's a gifted animator and he has some clever ideas. But he has yet to find a writing collaborator that can help him develop and project something as powerful as "Wallace and Gromit."

This is a simple skit, along the lines of a Fieffer cartoon. The animation is irrelevant except for the ten seconds when they turn on the TeeVee.

Otherwise, this is the absolute worst of his work, if you are looking around.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Although clearly a reference to Woody Allen (and more precisely "Annie Hall"), this fantastic short film reminds me very much of Todd Solondz's "Happiness" (though it was made earlier), in the way that *incredibly* awkward and uncomfortable situations are drawn out and out, and the scenes never allowed to end gracefully to save the characters from their shame and misery, but instead go on and on and keep getting worse. Sometimes it's almost unbearable to watch! (Which is even more credit to Hertzfeldt and the voice actors, since we are only watching the artist's trademark stick figures!). I laughed my head off with this gem. Hertzfeldt never lets me down, he's a genius!!

I have recently seen this hilarious short film with the family on DVD and everyone was in 'stitches' The DVD has a number of great short films and is called "SHORT Issue 4 : Seduction" I love short films and this must go into my top 10.