Gopher Broke
The animated short film ‘Gopher Broke’ is about a gopher living on the
countryside who is shown trying hard to procure vegetable/fruits in the film to
eat. It opens with the sign board which reads ‘Farmers house’ and then at the
root of the board we see the gopher. It is in this way that the main character
– the gopher is introduced.
The characterization of the gopher is very good. He has an innocent
looking face and has two big frontal teeth which further show his gullibility
and country fool characteristic. The naiveté and yet the clever tactics he
applies to procure food reveal to us the interesting character that he is.
He is on a road where trucks are moving produce to market. He digs a
pit on the road so that every time a truck passes it jumps up and
fruits-vegetables fly into the sky. The fruits-vegetables are shown in slow
motion for added effect, and the sparkle in his eyes when this happens is a
very heartwarming moment. But he can never really enjoy the feast as the crows
always get it before him.
The audience feels sorry for him, we connect with him because we have
seen him try for food, get really close and then get disappointed. We too get
disappointed with him.
The film has a comical ending, as this time around a truck carrying a
cow passes and jumps up because of the same pit he had dug. The animal then flies
out and lands on the poor gopher! Following this we see the truck go away with
the cow in it and the gopher stuck on his behind! :D
A very cute short, with a simple storyline and basic human emotions we
can connect too.
A Gentlemen's Duel
This animated short film opens like a typical princess in the castle
or fairy tale. We see a beautiful pond, with two frogs trying to have the same
butterfly. Then the frame expands and we see a very pretty lady looking out
from the balcony to the left and there the title of the film is shown.
The film as the name suggests is about two men fighting for a girl.
The girl like in all classical fairy tales is shown as a passive participant
who has a pretty face. The characterisation of the two men is very interesting,
one is very English and the other is very French in his appearance. So the
classic rivalry between the English and the French is revived.
They fight verbally, bicker over the lunch, but the
main fight happens with the men running huge robots. In this too fun is made of
English traditions like the evening tea. In the middle of the fight, at a very
decisive moment the servant comes and rings a tiny bell. All of a sudden the
fighting stops and we see both the men and the lady at table sipping tea like
civilized human beings!
Once it’s over, they return and resume from exactly where they had left.
Finally after a lot of destruction, they realize the woman is missing and later
see her boots under a boulder. Assuming that she is dead, they both run away.
We see all the destruction they’ve caused and then see rustling in the nearby
bush. We then see the lady naked in the bush smiling - we wonder who is she
with and we soon see the servant pop out of the shrub too. So somewhere in the
middle, the lady had gone out with the servant leaving both the men to fight!
:) An unconventional end to a very predictable plotline.
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