Reviews of The House (2022) and related work
- Entry: “And Heard Within, a Lie is Spun” (2022)
- Entry: “Then Lost is Truth that Can’t be Won” (2022)
- Entry: “Listen Again and Seek the Sun” (2022)
The House (2022
)
Seen in 2023.
In three different worlds, different people are attached to the same foreboding house and feel bad about it.
This anthology should not have been one. The commonalities in setting, theme and medium (stop-motion animation) are so weak that there is no artistic synergy between them.
moving picture animation fiction
‣ “And Heard Within, a Lie is Spun” (2022)
Seen in 2023.
A poor but loving offshoot of a posh family is offered a new house by a sinister neighbour.
This part was done by the brilliant Emma de Swaef, who made “This Magnificent Cake” (2018). Like that film, this one is an absurd allegory of power and status with top-drawer craftsmanship, centred on a strange house. It isn’t quite as pointed as the earlier short, but it is easily the best part of The House.
moving picture entry animation fiction
‣ “Then Lost is Truth that Can’t be Won” (2022)
Seen in 2023.
An anthropomorphic mouse is working hard to refurbish a house so he can flip it to save his personal finances.
This dark comedy is as if David Lynch directed The Money Pit (1986). It’s cleanly executed, except for a 3D CGI sequence, but it doesn’t have de Swaef’s psychological chops.
A minor point of worldbuilding interest: Apparently, normal people in this world are all mice. There are two other species, both of them bugs, both of them existing on two levels: As intelligent rodent-like squatters on the scale of the mice, and as naked, unintelligent bugs who relate to the mice in size as real mice relate to humans. The ontological distinction between these two forms is purposely blurred, and also related to a shift in the behaviour of the main character. He becomes more like a real mouse when the squatters become more like bugs. This is vague, but more interesting than—for instance—the worldbuilding of BoJack Horseman (2014).
moving picture entry animation fiction
‣ “Listen Again and Seek the Sun” (2022)
Seen in 2023.
An anthropomorphic cat is working hard to repair a house so she can attract new tenants after most of the old ones fled the rising waters and the last two stopped paying rent.
There was a relatively large overlap in staffing between the last two parts of the anthology. This one has a much more positive ending than the first two, which is nice, but the writing and execution are more frustrating. Instead of Lynchian nightmares, it’s more of a whimsical children’s show with incongruously relatable adult characters.