Bobby Fish
2021 · 8m · USA
Directed by Peter Wagner
Genres: comedy, experimental, surrealism
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
A scrambled, shape-shifting story about fatherhood, consumerism, and giving people exactly what they ask for, told from the rotating perspectives of a father, a son, a fish, and an evil toy company. Pure controlled chaos held together by an unlikely emotional core.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Father, son, fish, evil toy company — four protagonists, seven minutes, zero wasted absurdity. The fact that it somehow hits emotionally is the punchline nobody asked for.
Charlie Kaufman writes a Nickelodeon short — multi-perspective animation including the fish's POV and an evil toy company as character is admirably unhinged, and a unique animation texture matters as much as the script here.
Perspective hops between father, son, fish, and evil toy company in a 'uniquely textured animation style' — the page sells the bubbly sheen but I'd need to see whether the emotional core actually holds the chaos together.