Pigeon
2020 · 6m · South Korea
Directed by Sang Joon Kim
Tones: absurdist, contemplative, humorous
An urban portrait reimagining people as pigeons navigating city life — a satirical meditation on anonymity.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
People as pigeons rather than the lazy reverse-anthropomorphism — that's a smart inversion, and a Korean animator named Tadoh with this premise is exactly the kind of weird I show up for. Five and a half minutes well spent.
Depicting people as pigeons rather than the reverse is the kind of small inversion that makes satirical animation interesting, and Tadoh's production team brings genuine craft. Hertzfeldt is a high comparison; let's say a worthy heir to lesser entries in that lineage.
5:39, 24.3K views, 713 likes, full Tadoh credit list with composer Minwhee Lee and sound designer Jusuk Lee — Sang Joon Kim's inversion (people as pigeons, not pigeon-as-person) gives the satire its specific gravity. Korean animation 2D with a real production stack.