Oktapodi

"Oktapodi" is a 2007 short animated film that started as a class project at France's prestigious Gobelins L'Ecole de L'Image. It was nominated, but did not receive, the 2009 award for "Best Animated Short Film". Although a French film, since it contains no spoken language, its language is not important.

The film starts with two conveniently color-coded octopi dancing a tango, which is interrupted by the female octopus getting stolen by a man who plans to cook her! Our hero then must escape his aquarium and track down his beloved. What follows, in the next two minutes, is a hyperkinetic chase sequence through a gorgeously, if cartoonishly rendered Mediterranean city. The basic plot line of a movie must be followed, and through some travails, our protagonists are reunited at the end.

Although perhaps not the most prestigious Academy Award, this film was still nominated as being the best animated short in its year. Does two and a half minutes of wordless action scenes qualify this film as being one of the five best films made of its type, for its year? I would say that this film succeeds in a very important way: it encapsulates all of the aspect of film into its essence in under three minutes. We have a setting and a situation that we understand. We have emotions, demonstrated wordlessly. We have actions undertaken, both comedic and dramatic. And then we have a conclusion, and even a slight bit of subversion. The story is told, and the medium of animation is used to full effect to illustrate that story. So while this movie might seem slight, I do believe that it shows technical and artistic achievement.