In Love
2023 · 1m
Directed by Damien Bastelica
Genres: animation, coming-of-age, romance
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
Fear and self-doubt can hold us back from pursuing our desires — this brief animated moment captures what happens when someone takes a leap of faith and makes the first move.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
One minute of animation about taking a leap in love—sounds like a greeting card until you realize Bastelica's letting the silence do the heavy lifting, which is either brilliantly restrained or aggressively safe, and I genuinely can't tell which.
A formally composed study in romantic hesitation that understands the visual grammar of contemporary animation; the tender pacing recalls a lineage of poetic shorts that privilege suggestion over spectacle.
Bastelica's choice to compress the entire arc into that single moment of commitment—the breath before the leap—crystallizes the whole film's emotional weight in what could've been a throwaway gesture; it's the kind of micro-decision that transforms a minute-long concept into something that lingers.
Reviews
Die Flüssigkeit der Bewegungen, die Dynamik und nicht zuletzt die Visualisierung abstrakter Gefühle und Momentaufnahmen machen die eh schon kurze Minute gefühlt nochmal kürzer.