Mission: Christmas is a fusion of joy

  Troler
December 10, 2025

👁 3

https://blenderdumbass.org/do_edit : 👁 1

#IgnasMeilūnas #AaronBlaise #KęstutisDrazdauskas #film #review #movies #cinemastodon

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'Tis the jolly time of Christmas. As people gather around and sing festive songs. spread they joy to others with gifts and love and visit those without family or health. Such were the emotional sentiment of the thee Christmas movies I saw. It was more so an added bonus, I wished to watch the Lithuanian stop-motion cartoon Hoofs on Skates, directed by Ignas Meilūnas. He films are light in tone and feature no speech. None of the films have any speech what-so-ever. As is homestay of I. Maliūnas, the tone of Hoofs on skates was quite light. I can go on and on about the tone of the film, I presume it would be a better idea to compare the work to his other short film Mr. Night Has a Day Off, which you can watch here. In both cases there is the attention given to the outside world. In hoofs film, the world is set in a mythical far-away forest filled with crows that look like obese KKK members. The world seems to serve sliding first and foremost. The piglet character with the scarf fits well inside of the world. That's no coincidence, as pointed out by the director himself, he made the world from the piglet. The character is soft, round and bubbly, the world is soft, round and bubbly. The forest is dotted with pine trees, that, very much like the character, look soft.


Somehow there is a horror element. There is a giant fish under the lake. When I say giant I mean baseball to the volleyball difference of scale. That feisty fish has large, large teeth. That would not be a problem, the lake is frozen. Everything is all-okay... except for one ice-skate shoe. A natural confrontation is met with going to a dangerous place to retrieve a precious item. The fish seems dangerous and then comes to be a friend, setting the rule of the word: people are friendly and are here to have fun! As such the film ends on the high note, as the piglet skates on the lake. And the big reveal being the existence of not 1 but dozen of giant fish. Such a reveal kind of reminds the scene in The senior and the girl story I am working with @trueauracoral . I am going to abstain from commenting more, or else I might spoil the entire story.

There was an another film about a animals wandering through snow. The stunning hand-drawn film by a veteran Disney animator Aaron Blaise. As reported, together with his crew and 3 years of hard work, came a work about a lonely bear searching for friends. The discussion is about a polar bear, there are no penguins. From a biological standpoint, the short film is accurate. Not so the fact the bear started building a snow-man, a snow-bear? This is art, it doesn’t have to be realistic. The miserable bear creates a snowbear and plays with it until it melts. And... The music! Since all of the films are without any form of dialogue, the sound design plays a more vital role than usual. The symphonic orchestra, done by Mark Mancina and Marlon Espino are well suiting. That is to be expected of seasoned professionals. The short movie does begin with the bear walking through the blizzard alone, searching for a friend. That same melody is repeated when his snow-friend melts. The work is a well made propaganda piece for saving polar bears and respecting nature. It was made with association of National Bears International and National Parks Conservation Association. In that regard, the movie can be grouped together with Avatar and Interstellar. Did the movie succeed at corrupting the audience? I’d say, watch the movie, it’s on YouTube and make up the mind yourself. If you do not have the time to watch an 11 minute movie, then you do not have time to read this review.

The last part was a bit hard. How about some hot chocolate and a snowman inside of a sink... what? The last movie, also having the snowmen being transported through a vast region and melting, is Kęstutis Drazdauskas’s Secret. Like no other, this short made me cry. I was already teary eyed by watching Polar Bear, seeing a snowman be created, abused, transported on a bus to just end up melting is tearful. The performance of Jonė Kleinaitė as during the night of Christmas she finds a present that she didn’t want. And her grandmother’s (Eglė Mikulionytė) slipper, the girl has no parents, breaking her belief in Santa Claus is just.... I am already getting teary. The girl wanted a dinosaur, rawr. She got a standard doll, that’s the wish of her friend who lives next door... Oh wait! She can just give the doll to her friend. When the ending came, the little girl’s friend, played by Upė Litvinaitė, came running towards her friend with the doll in her hand, joyous with the gift. Santa heard her wishes! The snowman, a messenger, may he died in a heatstroke and wasn’t able to bring the letters, at least her friend got the doll.
After the movie was over, I went to the Christmas Tree lighting event. It just so coincided the movie ended just before the festivities began. The plaza was packed with people, I felt like a sardine squeezed from all sides by lead. I did quite fancy the songs ranging from singing about making French soup to mashed Spanish tomatoes, to going to a Finnish sauna, to Santa Claus singing and dancing. At that stage I was just left speechless.
Fin.


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c:0 @blenderdumbass
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  Blender Dumbass c:0



Good visual effects work. Yet funny how Mr. Night is just a humanoid cartoon with a texture of the stars.


You are still writing that shared document?


I thought, when it opened, that is the Tony Scott produced, David Scott directed 2012 short about polar bears.

Also, to work like Avatar or Interstellar you need the get the numbers of these movies. There are undeniably better propaganda pieces. But those, more serious films, usually nobody sees. To get a real impact is to get a huge crowd to engage with the idea.

... replies ( 1 )

  Troler c:1



@blenderdumbass

You are still writing that shared document?

It's already written, we're story-boarding

To get a real impact is to get a huge crowd to engage with the idea.

I am aware. Not too long ago I listened to the author of Lithuanian best-seller "Pietinia Kronikas" by Rimantas Kmita, which was, surprisingly, his first novel. He is fascinated by Billie Eilish and her ability to make popular music with appeal, that has quality and substance in it. The author emphasized the need to make art read by others. When you are part of the writer's group and share your work, it is easy to get into the deep-end and create very artsy, but not popular works.

Reply

  Troler c:1

... c:0

  Blender Dumbass c:0

his other short film Mr. Night Has a Day Off, which you can watch here.

Good visual effects work. Yet funny how Mr. Night is just a humanoid cartoon with a texture of the stars.

The senior and the girl story I am working with @trueauracoral .

You are still writing that shared document?

The work is a well made propaganda piece for saving polar bears and respecting nature. It was made with association of National Bears International and National Parks Conservation Association. In that regard, the movie can be grouped together with Avatar and Interstellar.

I thought, when it opened, that is the Tony Scott produced, David Scott directed 2012 short about polar bears.

Also, to work like Avatar or Interstellar you need the get the numbers of these movies. There are undeniably better propaganda pieces. But those, more serious films, usually nobody sees. To get a real impact is to get a huge crowd to engage with the idea.

@blenderdumbass


It's already written, we're story-boarding


I am aware. Not too long ago I listened to the author of Lithuanian best-seller "Pietinia Kronikas" by Rimantas Kmita, which was, surprisingly, his first novel. He is fascinated by Billie Eilish and her ability to make popular music with appeal, that has quality and substance in it. The author emphasized the need to make art read by others. When you are part of the writer's group and share your work, it is easy to get into the deep-end and create very artsy, but not popular works.

Reply