Watch La Maison en Petits Cubes For Free

So much average

The first must-see film of the year.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Blistering performances.

A previous review on this site states my exact thoughts, but I couldn't not write a review about this. The animation is simple, but impressive. It is light, and nostalgic. Nothing needs to be explained and allows the viewer to interpret the story on its own. I interpret the water rising as a metaphor for getting older, and being unable to go back to previous years (or as in the short film, go back previous floors due to them being flooded). Each floor also gets smaller the higher it goes, because when you are younger, the amount of things or choices in your life seem endless, but once you grow up they are more limited. I don't think the flood was about global warming. I also think that the man represents the lonelines elderly people experience as they grown older. It is harder to make friends and the people you once had around might not be there anymore. They are isolated from the world and forced to live in their homes or nursing homes. The old man had children but they didn't come to visit them. It is the sad truth that lonelines is a big factor to depression and many elderly suffer from it. This is why this short is a real tear jerker, because seeing the elderly man light up remembering his life and the people he loved is something we know we might all experience one day. This was a beautiful film and deserves to be appreciated .

(Flash Review)Using the metaphor of building a house taller as water around it rises, this neat little short is a touching tale of how one keeps working through life while reflecting and holding onto choice memories….in my opinion. Very original animation styles and appropriate music as there is no dialog. Well worth the 12 minutes.

I really enjoyed this animated 12-minute short film. And so did the Academy as they gave it the Oscar over Pixar's possibly most acclaimed short-film "Presto" and a couple others. The difference may be that, while it was possibly not as witty and fast-moving as Pixar's, it had more heart than on organ bank. Its premise is as odd as it's interesting as we see an old man forced to build cubes up his house (that almost looks like a castle at this point) to counter the constantly rising tide. After he does so, he dives down the house and reaches cubes in which he lived before. This is where he is reminded of significant moments of his past, such as his wife or his childhood. The rising-tide idea to make the old man reminisce deep down in the water is nothing short of brilliant and the memory sequences are quite touching and effective especially with the sudden shift back to present and the man being alone in his diving-suit. A truly harmonic score perfectly fits the tone of the movie.Also the people behind this short film are quite interesting. Voice actress Masami Nagasawa is only in her mid-20s, but has already been in over 50 movies and Kunio Kato who wrote and directed this little gem gave one of the most entertaining speeches in recent Oscar history. Domo arigato Mr. Kato! It's a shame he hasn't directed another film in the 5 years since then. I'd be thrilled to see a feature film of his, one where the animation is equally vintage and timeless as in this one. I recommend it a lot and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more when I approach the main character's age.

As much an example of the beauty of ever-less-present hand-drawn animation as well as an ode to the slow passage of time, this short film from Japan is an extended metaphor for how things slowly get washed away over time. An old man surviving in his one-room house above the tide drops his pipe into the deep waters that have sunk the foundation of his home up to several stories high. Finding no other pipe suitable as his trusty old one, the man rents some scuba gear and dives down to retrieve it, only to be hit by a flashback of his dead wife. Delving into further rooms, he is hit by memories of the past, all the way back to the foundation of the house itself.The tone is perfect and firm in this animation, both in the drawing style and the music. The film breathes nostalgia and loss, which can also say something about its old school hand-drawn animation and even to the sepia tones of silent film. It's a love story in reverse, too, as the man goes from a place of isolation and loneliness to a full life filled with love and care before your eyes.--PolarisDiB