Fallin' Floyd (2013)

Why so much hype?

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Expected more

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Another Dutch animated short and this time dealing with the topic of depression . I did see an animated Dutch short a few days ago called JUNKYARD and that was depressing set in a grotesque future wasteland where most people are addicted to hard drugs . Despite the theme of the story it's certainly happy and feel good for the most part . Pink is a trumpet player and there's no dialogue in the story which is told in pictures with a constant jazz funk soundtrack playing in the background then when he's rejected depression expressed as a black blob that takes over his life . What the animation is good at is expressing both the happiness and the unhappiness in Floyd's life . You can't help tapping your feet as Floyd jumps around locations blasting away at his trumpet infecting passer-bys with joy . Likewise you can feel his pain as drudgery and angst takes over his life . Once again as with JUNKYARD it refers to 3D animation being used but I can't say I noticed it and I guess 3D doesn't work on a laptop screen ?

This film starts with scenes of cheering goodness as street musician Floyd walks the streets getting coins and spreading joy: it is an opening that frankly put me off because it just felt so upbeat and empty. Qucikly though Floyd loses his girlfriend and starts to sink into depression – a depression represented for him and others by a black monkey-like demon that follows him everywhere and never relents.The idea here then is simple – the black demon is depression and Floyd is either going to totally be destroyed by it and sink so low he never comes up, or he'll find some small respite and ultimately sort himself out. It is not something new as a story but the delivery is what makes it work in this case because visually the demon idea works better than it seems to at first. The animation is bright and simple but it moves with pace and the demon gets bigger as it goes, becoming more interesting the bigger and more complex it gets. The conclusion is similarly simple but it works for what it is. It is the dialogue-free animation and soundtrack that will make it worth seeing though because, although the plot and message is pretty straightforward, the delivery is clever, flows well, looks good and makes the simple idea feel more than it is.