Chen Xi's “The Six” is the only non-narrative entry in its International Competition – Asian Focus, marking it a surprising entry in this year's Cartoons Underground line-up. Chen Xi's piece largely reads as a formal process experiment; moreover, its animation is relatively restrained in contra to its competitors. But perhaps this is where “The Six” strength lies: in its strict attention to structure.
“The Six” is Screening at Cartoons Underground
”The Six” feels like an animated comic-strip in a screen split three ways. To the left and right, two moons wax and wane; they exchange the foreshadowing and aftermath of each encounter. In the center, a man seduces a new woman each month. He goes through the same repeat motions for each lover, only to be tempted by another mistress passing by his window. By the end of the four-minute short, a wandering crane steps into the center. The man steps outside his home at last, breaking free from the confines of the animated loop.
Mesmerizing and enigmatic, Chen Xi captures the elegance of the animated cycle in “The Six.” This may be due to Chen Xi's background, as well: as someone first inspired into the art of animation through comic strips and video games, Chen's elevation of the cycle strips animation to the basics. The black-and-white wood engraving-esque visuals, the visibly rigged protagonist, alongside with the minimal music only add to the film's experimental merit. Most intriguingly of all, the film's a-perspectival ilustrative mode only reveals as much as it conceals the process of the animated image.
While Chen Xi's “The Six” definitely requires a replay – and perhaps would even be better if looped on its own – the short presents a quiet rumination of animation's fundamentals. “The Six” definitely serves as a pleasant pause in this year's Cartoons Underground program.
