Perspectrum
1975 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Ishu Patel
Genres: animation, experimental
Tones: contemplative, surreal
Flat geometric shapes, thin as playing cards, continually assemble and dissolve into new configurations while a Japanese koto provides the soundtrack for an abstract animated study.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Patel's doing something so formally pure it almost feels like he's *refusing* narrative on principle—which would be contrarian if it wasn't already 1975 and he's basically working in the lineage everyone else is too scared to commit to.
This is the kind of rigorous geometric study that only works because Patel has clearly thought through every assembly and dissolution as a formal argument; the koto doesn't accompany the animation so much as they're both speaking the same language of measured transformation.
The singular choice here is trusting the koto's rhythm to *be* the compositional grid—Patel could've let the shapes lead, but instead he builds the entire visual syntax around the instrument's phrasing, and suddenly six minutes of playing cards feels inevitable.