Shinobu Soejima is an artist and a stop motion animation director. Her short films and video of stop-motion animation actively incorporate organic matter, including themes of “the impermanency of things” and conflicting ideas such as life and death, or light and shadow. Through research on Asian folklore and ethnic culture, she experiments with a narrative film expression that incorporates images shared by people of all races and ages.
“Blink in the Desert” is screening at ShortShorts
In a dystopian/sci-fi/desert setting, a bald humanoid creature and an elephant-like one are living together in a small hut in the middle of nowhere. The tension between them is palpable from the beginning, but the former’s words during a dinner, “You know it is not my fault” highlight that something very wrong is happening here, with the elephant’s silence looming over the house. A bit later, the former one again, ends up killing a black butterfly-creature, while trying to get water from a well close to the house. The killing triggers a series of events, including a nightmare while asleep and one while awake, with the butterflies playing a key role in both. The face of a similar creature among the butterflies, highlights that the aforementioned fault, could be about the death of someone in the family. Eventually, and again through the interaction with some butterflly creatures, a kind of catharsis is eventually reached.
Shinobu Shoejima creates a world where tension and grief seem to be the main ingredients, along with a sense that something dangerous is happening, which is also communicated by the excellent score by Marty Hicks and the uncanny sound efffects by Hisako Nakaoka and Nao Tawaratsumida. Understanding that the butterfly incident is actually a flashback and essentially the reason behind the tension of the two creatures, is not exactlly easy but it does happen, essentially giving a whole different hypostasis to the whole film. At the same time, the action itself seems to show that violence can come from everywhere, in this case from disgust, but always has consequences for both recipient and advocate. Lastly, that relief can come from doing exactly the opposite, when the opportunity appears, concludes the context of the short.
Visually, the movie is equally impressive. Terajima’s artform, both in character creation and animation, with the creatures looking like moving sculptures, looks great, while it also has a contextual value, as the scars on the face of the first character mirror its psychological status quite eloquently. Furthermore, the intricate minimalism that characterizes the whole setting the story takes place in, the implementation of shadows, and the varying appearances of the butterflies conclude a truly astonishing visual presentation.
Despite the small issue with the storytelling, “Blink in the Desert” is an excellent animation, that shows, once more, that there is life in Japan, even outside the anime industry.
