04/03/2012

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR LESSMORE - AN OSCAR-WINNING ANIMATED TALE

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore  directed by   William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg  has recently  won the Oscar in the category "Short". I wasn't so interested in the glamour of the Oscar night this year. I wasn't interested in none of the films either. So I only  came to see this touching, poetic winning short  yesterday thanks to   Austen author Laura Hile who posted about it on her facebook wall
You know, my best favourite books are books about ... books (Farhenheit 451, for instance). So, being this short about books helped me to overcome my wariness of animated movies and my little fondness for Oscar-winning works. 
Well, especially since it is about flying books. It was not by chance that I chose to add just flying books to my blue banner and to call my blog FLY HIGH!  I'm truly convinced books can make us fly. Fly high over this world's pettiness, fly away from its ugliness, fly far beyond its boundaries. 


I was touched  by this tale full of flying books, by its music, its dreamy pictures, its little awkward protagonist. I smiled a lot all through it but was moved to tears in the end. 

A young man is alone on the balcony of his house, which is surrounded by many other tall buildings in a big city. He is sitting between two piles of books, one on his left and the other one on his right. He seems peacefully engaged in the writing of a book when, suddenly a rough wind starts blowing and , growing stronger and stronger, it sweeps away everything: the words he has just written on the paper first and then hundreds of books, houses, people in a catastrophic, overpowering  wirlwhind.

The whirl blows away the young man's book and even he himself is swept away by that inexorable power. He will land back inside an upside-down house, his book is with him,  but completely blank,  so  he will start wandering about in a grey world made bleak by that inexplicable catastrophe, covered all over by the remains of  the books torn into pieces by the violent event.
The sweet, funny little man - who reminds both Buster Keaton and Charlot in his features and movements - has lost the words in his book and the blissed expression he had while writing it at the beginning of the story. 
However, the world turns into colours again when a beautiful young girl flying above, carried by a bunch of coloured flying books,  appears in the sky, smiles at him and gives him a gift: one of her flying books. Following it, he will arrive at a beautiful house inhabited by thousands of books where he will live reading and trying to start writing again... 
What about watching it now? It's only 15 minutes. Grab your favourite mug full of your favourite drink, relax in your more comfortable armchair and ... click below. Get ready.  It'll be impossible not to fly. No need to fasten your seat belts. Set your imagination free...


Have you landed back? Ready to share your impressions and musings? What's the wind symbol of? What's the message in the final scenes? What's the meaning of the man taking the place of the flying girl? He gives the book that took him all his life to write to the little girl. What's that symbol of? And last but not least, what do you especially like in this brilliant animated short? I'd love to hear from you.

6 comments:

Cayce said...

I'm not an Oscar fan either, but this sounds fantastic. Thanks, I'll watch it. :)

Maria Grazia said...

I really hope you'll enjoy it, Cayce. Let us know what you think about it
:-)
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.

Cayce said...

Loved it! :)

You have been awarded the One Lovely Blog Award!
http://nijiclovers.blogspot.com/2012/03/youre-lovely.html

Happy Tuesday! :)

Anonymous said...

In the whirlwind you can see a TV set passing by with a vodafone symbol on its screen. I thought I recognised it and after making a search on this movie I discovered it is also an iPad app and vodafone is involved.
I liked the scene in which the dying book regains strength when Mr. Lessmore begins to read it.
For me the books are the life experiences of the people who wrote them. People's words and thoughts. Something they pass on to later generations. When these people die they are still fondly rememberd (pictures on the wall) and live on as long as others read them, enriching their own lives. Mr. Lessmore writes in his own book: "The many and varied points of view I have encountered do not confuse, but ENRICH". I laugh, I cry etc."
I am curious about your own thoughts, MG!
Ciao, Monica

Maria Grazia said...

You've pointed out some key ideas there, Monica.
I can just say that I love this little animated short, everything in it.
The melancholy in the final scenes is aching and I love several features in the final message:
1. The little man flies away and turns into a magic being like the one (the cute flying girl) he had received his flying book from
2. The book he has written all his life through becomes a "flying" one
3. He leaves his books to the young girl
It is not sad, but bittersweet. A metaphor of life, not only of the importance of reading.
I've read comments of people who said: I can't really understand this story but it is beautiful.
I'd like to answer with one the sentences Mr Lessmore writes in his book:"If life is enjoyed, what matters if it doesn't make sense?" (I love it)
Thanks a lot, Monica, for your contribution. MG

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