The Dam Keeper

The Dam Keeper is the richest, most plot-driven short of this year's animated batch of Oscar shorts. Captured in animation that resembles the illustrations of a storybook you grew up reading as a child, The Dam Keeper concerns a pig who controls the dam of his town. The dam's job is to block out the darkness from casting an ugly, dreary shadow onto the neighborhood, and the pig's now deceased father taught him the ways to fight off the darkness. At school, however, darkness hovers over the pig like a dark cloud, as he's bullied profusely, one day, befriending a fox who loves to sketch and shows him liberation through means of animation.

It's as if the writing/directing of Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi had past experiences with bullies as children and used animation as a tactic to set their mind free, making The Dam Keeper a short that could potentially bear a very heavy personal meaning. It also shows the way that while the physical darkness can be fought in this particular world that, like in the natural world, feelings of sadness and alienation unfortunately cannot, and through tender, affectionate writing and animation does The Dam Keeper helps us realize that, crafting a beautiful story and a wonderfully easy-on-the-eyes animation style.

Directed by: Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi.

This film is a rare and wonderful gem that stays with you for days after viewing. Visually, it resembles a series of beautiful watercolors, with the animation having an almost a stop-motion quality to it. Though the story is told (nearly) without words, it's accompanied by a moving score and the familiar sounds of children's laughter and crying.

The titular hero--a steadfast little pig--is adorable and sweet-natured. His daily torment and isolation at school are heartbreaking to watch. He's clearly deprived of the love and appreciation he deserves, and you wish you could reach through the screen to comfort and protect him. Be warned--as beautiful as this film is, it's also bound to evoke some of your ugliest childhood memories, whether you ever were on the giving or receiving end of bullying, or simply stayed silent on the sidelines as it happened.

Growing up, many of us built our own "dams" to cope with the darkness of teasing, bullying, and loneliness. When the dams broke, having someone there on the other side--a friend, parent, teacher, anyone--could make all the difference. To me, this is the core message of the film. If you have young children that are just starting school, consider watching and discussing with them.

"His mask protected me from the cloud, but nothing I had, protected me from the people."

The Dam Keeper is an emotionally engaging animated short co-directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi, which I thought could've upset Disney's candidate (Feast) for the Oscar win this year. The hand painted 2D animation style wasn't my favorite, but the story makes up for it with a lot of heart. The short centers on a young pig who has a very important task. He is the Dam Keeper, in other words he is in charge of operating a large windmill at the entrance of the city which keeps all the pollution out. But that isn't the only darkness that the pig has to face. In school the rest of the kids make fun of him and he is constantly bullied by everyone. This is a darkness which he doesn't know how to face. When a young new fox arrives at the school the two become close and he learns that through drawing he can find a new means of expression. The story is emotionally engaging and we sympathize for the main character and how he is alienated from the rest of the kids. The only dialogue in the film is voiced by a narrator (Lars Mikkelsen), the rest of the story is told through the animation and its accompanying score. There is an interesting resemblance going on between the darkness that the pig faces to protect the city and the darkness he faces in his own personal life. The Dam Keeper is a rare animated film that manages to make an impact on the audience despite its short run time.

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The story was very shallow. The main idea is very understandable and even trivial, but the execution is weak.

Both I and my child were bored while watching.

The Dam Keeper is my choice for the best of the animated shorts and I think the quality difference between this and the rest of the films is pretty obvious. Like The Bigger Picture, this one has the look of a painting--which is quite unusual for an animated film. But the paintings are of a much higher quality and there is an amazing artistry that set this one apart---it just looks great. While the style isn't quite as lush as Petrov's style (but whose is?!), it is gorgeous and the filmmakers, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, used over 8000 paintings to make this short film. The story is very sentimental and sweet--and not in way that is cloying or over the top. It left me feeling satisfied and I love the website for the film (https://www.thedamkeeper.com/) and it's nearly as creative as the film itself.

UPDATE: This film lost to the Disney short. Perhaps it might sound snarky, but I assume many of the folks who voted for these films probably didn't see them all---and "Feast" was the only one that had widespread release (with "Big Hero 6"). That's the only way I could explain "The Dam Keeper" not winning.