Night Bus
2019 · 20m · Taiwan
Directed by Joe Hsieh
Genres: animation, crime, thriller
Tones: dark, darkly comic, theatrical
A late-night bus journey along Taiwan's coast becomes the site of escalating violence after a passenger's pearl necklace is stolen, setting off a chain of betrayals, melodramatic passions, and revenge.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Hsieh achieves what few animators dare — genuine genre cinema compressed into twenty minutes, with the formal discipline of a master and the appetite of a genre provocateur — which is exactly the kind of pedigree a vault should not overlook.
Papercraft animation crime thriller on a Taiwan night bus, channeling Parasite and The Wailing inside a single vehicle — that's a specific, ambitious formal package. The New Yorker carrying it is a real signal.
Joe Hsieh's papercraft animation conjuring an entire genre filmography inside a single sealed bus — twenty minutes hosted by The New Yorker. The medium and the location both compress brutally, which is the entire achievement.
Reviews
Lovingly detailed animation, genre-blending of the highest order — its status as a certified crowd-pleaser is undeniable.
In an atmospheric setting, a group of travelers is faced with a theft, mystery, and finally, the roadside killing of a monkey.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2022, Short Film Jury Award: Animation
- Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films 2021, Grand Prix
- Ottawa International Animation Festival 2021, Public Prize
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2021
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2022, Jury Mention