The Cathedral

Anyone who's seen the new Star Wars movies, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, The Matrix Reloaded and other heavy-CGI films can attest that the animation rarely conveys scope or true majesty: when you can tell something is fake, it's hard to let it take your breath away. However, The Cathedral is truly the first CGI I've seen that's left me in awe. The plot is elegantly simple, in fact, everything about this movie is elegant, beautiful and haunting. This is what CGI should be. Either this or Das Rad deserved to win the Oscar for best Animated Short.

Awesome experience! This piece is not about the storyline. I feel that it's an artistic look-n-feel "tidbit" that was derived from the storyline. I found the official, authorized website dedicated to Jacek Dukaj writings, but cannot post the URL here without breaking policy. I believe that the character in this short is waiting for someone... who never shows up. He is already aware of some of the technology involved in the creation of the Cathedral, but not fully aware of it's programming details... and that's what leads to the conclusion of this piece. The Cathedral itself is made of "crysthorn" - some sort of algorithm-based organic rock(?) and houses a tomb and an alter! It resides on an asteroid which allowed the crysthorn to reach great heights due to decreased gravity. I wanted to post some quotes from the "teaser" I found on the website dedicated to Jacek Dukaj writings, but I will refrain in fear of violating policy. The character mentions a gazebo that he "grew" at his parent's house when he was 13. This gazebo was "grown" from a package of similar crysthorn seeds. Hope this was helpful to you, and piqued your curiosity even more. Have fun! Excellent CG experience! One discrepancy I must mention: In all scenes showing sky... the skies are fairly clear, except when the character approaches the massive building and looks up. The sky is completely overcast! A very dramatic effect, but ruins the continuity.

The first time I ever saw The Cathedral, I was sitting in Film class in high school. It was the only movie all year that I didn't want to end. It held my attention, from the beginning to the end. In fact I didn't even notice that I didn't blink until my contacts blurred over. The computer animation is just stunning, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the story is brilliant; there can be so many different interpretations. Once I saw The Cathedral, I wanted to watch it again and again. If you get a chance to see this film definitely see it, see what you think it means. You'll definitely have fun trying to figure out the meaning of it all.

Although perhaps a little light on story, Cathedral is a near-perfect display of computer-generated filmmaking. Rich in lighting effects, computer-designed architecture, and visual invention, the film is just great to watch. As mentioned earlier, the story is a little weak, as the filmmakers chose to tell their story with visuals rather than dialogue. However, because of the fantastic visuals and inventive storytelling techniques, the filmmakers' messages are effectively conveyed. While I don't think this could be the best short film of the year, it is certainly one of the best to look at.

After seeing THE CATHEDRAL (KATEDRA), I looked on IMDb for reviews of this Oscar-nominated short and the first one dramatically proclaimed it was "robbed at the Oscars"--implying the winner should not have won. So, that encouraged me to see out the winner (with the bizarre and less than exciting title "THE CHUBBCHUBBS") and I'm convinced that the AMPAS people (the organization giving out the Oscars) did NOT screw up by not giving the award to THE CATHEDRAL. While THE CATHEDRAL was amazing to watch from a visual perspective, it really looked much more like a cut scene from a video game than an actual short film. Whereas the CHUBBCHUBBS was very funny and a complete narrative--with excellent animation, writing, voice acting, etc. Plus, when I dug further, I watched ALL the nominees and found that DAS RAD (another nominee that failed to win) was also much better than THE CATHEDRAL. In fact, for originality, DAS RAD definitely was supreme in this category.

Still, my advice is see them all--and perhaps the other Oscar nominees from the 2003 Oscars. They're lovely little short films--though ATAMA-YAMA might make your brain hurt since it's so very weird.