Underplayed Gems

Miserable Miracle

Miserable Miracle poster
Country
Japan
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Words from a poem morph into shapes and human figures. This animated short explores the connection between sound and meaning.

abstractexperimentalpoeticdreamlikevisualrhythmicmeditative

What happens

Miserable Miracle is an animated short film, directed by Ryo Orikasa and released in 2023. A coproduction of the National Film Board of Canada, Miyu Productions of France and New Deer of Japan, the film is an experimental abstract animation based on the poetry of Henri Michaux, which features words from Michaux's work that morph into shapes and human-like figures as an exploration of sound and meaning. The film has been released in both English and French versions, with the English version narrated by Tony Robinow and the French version narrated by Denis Lavant. A Japanese-language version is slated for release in 2024. The film premiered at the 2023 Ottawa International Animation Festival, where it won the Grand Prize for short animation. The film received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Animated Short at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2024. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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