The House of Small Cubes

Gretings from Lithuania.

"Tsumiki no ie" (2008) is a very good short animated movie. The settings, plot are nothing short of amazing. This is a very sad and beautiful story about life, beautiful moments in our life which live only in our memories when time comes to the end. The idea behind this little picture is amazing. No wonder it won Oscar for the best short animated movie.

Overall, this is wonderful little gem that should be watched and appreciated by people who already lived and have some experience in their lives.

Until this day I've never wanted to post a comment even on my favorite movies, but I could not help saying a word about this loveliest, brilliant little animation. When I watched it for the first time I had a feeling of warmth, serenity and happiness. I was happy that human beings can still create such beautiful things in this world. I am amazed at how the director managed to put so many feelings and thoughts in this tiny piece of animation and I want to thank Mr. Kunio Katô for doing that. My congratulations Mr. Katô, you've added a beautiful piece to the art of animation :) And at last but not least I want to mention the music of the movie, it PERFECTLY fits every inch of the film and creates a harmonious unity of sound and image. I hope you will enjoy watching La Maison en petits cubes as much as I did :)

Intro: The House of Small Cubes is a Japanese short film, and one of the best animated films to come out of Japan, up there with Spirited Away. And frankly, one of my favorite short films of all time. And pun intended, a sunken gem of the Japanese film industry.

The Story: Told entirely through visuals, this film tells the story of a lonely old man, who to save his house, builds it so it's much higher, and rises above the flood waters and shifting tides. And when he looses his smoking pipe, he goes to retrieve, and in the process, relives his past life.

Clearly dealing with themes of loneliness and life, this film does it with such amazingly written storytelling, and moments that got me very close to bringing a tear to my eye. Making it the movie that came closest to making me cry. Emotionally impactful and dealing in mature themes, this film is a master at good storytelling, a film that inspires me in this respect.

The Characters: As I mentioned before, the film focuses around one character. And in this film, he deals with having to relive his past of loosing people in his life, and that by building his house so it's taller, he's leaving behind their memories. However, by the end of the reminded of how it's important to remember them. In what is one my favorite endings to any film. To cut this section short, I love the arc that are nameless main character goes through.

The Animation: Even though the film technically qualifies as anime, the animation style could not be more different from other anime. Having a sort more abstract drawing style to it, the film's animation is unlike anything I've ever seen. And it's simply beautiful to look at. And I would recommend it to people of all tastes because of this. I would recommend it to people who anime, people who hate anime, people who like animation as a whole, or just people who like film, or good stories.

Conclusion: This film is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. It's impacts the audience emotionally, it deals with great themes, the writing is stellar. And it's just worth a watch. So please, give it a watch. And if my review convinced you to look for this gem, maybe the 8.3 rating will. Considering around 9,000 people in total, gave the movie an 8.3, I'm clearly not alone in my opinion.

While the metaphors in Tsumiki no ie are not as deep as the sub-nautical setting, they do not need to be. Everything that "The House of Small Cubes" attempts to convey is clear enough bring about emotion, and concise enough to be understood upon first viewing. Consistent with Japanese minimalism, the animation and art style are both beautiful and elegant. Kenji Kondo's soundtrack; ever withdrawn and ambient, delivers just enough emotional impact at the right points to help the flow of the film while not being overbearing.

Tsumiki no ie is a wonderful twelve minute experience which deserves all of the praise it has received.

I don't know why at least two people in other comments write about „flood caused (probably) by global warming".

To me, the flood is purely metaphorical. It's the time that is cruel and forces us to move on, to the next stage of our lives even if we don't want to, because we feel happy where we are, even if we maybe would like to stay there a little bit longer. But we cannot. The rising water forces us to go on. There's no exception.

The old man from the movie travels back in time to watch again the memories of his life but also, as we all know, he becomes aware all those moments are absolutely gone. It's not possible to live underwater – we can only submerge for a moment to have a look at what is there that is all we can do.

This is a movie about life, about being old and lonely, NOT about the global warming nonsense.