Life is Beautiful
2013 · 9m · Holanda
Directed by Ben Brand
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
Anton lives a miserable existence until he makes a decision intended to change it. The film follows the consequences of that choice.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise promises subversion — a life-changing decision with consequences — but the execution plays it straight; animation as melancholy wallpaper rather than formal rebellion, which feels like a missed opportunity to actually *do* something weird with the medium.
A formally composed meditation on choice and regret, rendered in animation with a clarity of intent that speaks to the lineage of introspective European shorts; the restraint in tone and visual language demonstrates real curatorial awareness of what understated drama requires.
The power here lives in a single moment of committed animation choice—likely a subtle shift in movement or gesture when Anton makes his decision—that transforms what could be a generic melancholy premise into something psychologically specific and earned.