The Street (1976)

I love this movie so much

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"The Street" is a 1976 animated short film from Canada and sometimes it feels to me that occasionally the National Film Board of Canada could do whatever they wanted and still got an Oscar nomination. These 10 minutes here also got in at the Academy Awards, but (luckily) lost to another movie. The good thing about this one here is the basic plot idea. Grandma is old and going to die soon and her grandson was promised to get her room when she is deceased. So the boy can't really wait for the day. It is a bit tragic, but it is also realistic I guess. Sadly, what they made of this story in detail is fairly underwhelming and honestly, I couldn't care less. This is especially bad as this movie certainly had the ingredients to deliver from a tragic perspective that touches you. It did not. I also did not like the animation style, but that is just personal preference. Overall, I give it a thumbs-down. Don't watch.

This short film financed by The Canadian Film Board was about, I assume, the writer's childhood and his recollection about his grandmother and her eventual death. While I'm sure many will find this film profound, I was left feeling a bit disappointed. Instead of meaning, the movie left me with the opposite, as instead of celebrating the life of the grandmother, she seemed to be more of a burden than anything else to everyone in the family but her devoted daughter. Perhaps others ascribed more meaning to it than this, but this left me very sad. In this sense, the film was good but certainly far from a "feel good film"! As far as the technical merits go, I liked the style of the narration but found the animation itself not all that interesting. A decent film but that's really about all.

To me, the best part of this story - by far - was the art. The animated short was painted on glass, frame by frame and has a different look to it than anything I have ever seen. It's fascinating to view. I would watch this again just to appreciate the visuals, which are unique.I didn't find the story funny, which is what you usually expect from an animated short. It wasn't even appealing to me. It really isn't a cartoon, in that sense, but simply a short Jewish family's story illustrated instead of photographed. A young kid narrates the tale of his grandmother dying, and some of the reactions of the rest of the family. The kid is a bit of wise-guy. I might even watch this again with the sound off because the art is that good!This movie was part of the DVD "Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites From The National Film Board Of Canada.

Thanks to a well-told story, believable characters, and a highly unusual look, I can certainly recommend this solid Canadian short. If you're looking for Disney-like animation, you will be sorely disappointed, but the crude paintings fit the film well, and the story moved along at a fast enough pace to keep me interested. This isn't one of the National Film Board's best features, but it was still enjoyable, and it is worth a look if you ever come across it.