Princesa China
2014 · 5m · España
Directed by Tomàs Bases
Genres: animation, fantasy, musical
Tones: contemplative, surreal, whimsical
The wheel of reincarnation explained in a song: an animated short that narrates the story of a Siamese cat who in her previous life was a normal and ordinary girl, and before a Chinese princess, and before a mother of a family, and before a lioness, and before…
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's competent whimsy—a cute premise about reincarnation set to a jaunty song—but it never commits to anything weird enough to justify its own existence; the surrealism stays decorative, never dangerous.
Bases constructs a formally elegant meditation on cyclical time through animation and song, each life iteration a carefully composed visual beat that builds toward a philosophical statement about impermanence—this is craft in service of spiritual inquiry.
The decision to let the song drive the narrative rhythm rather than fight it transforms what could be a gimmick into something genuinely moving; that structural choice—trusting the music to carry the metaphysical weight—is what makes it work.