The Ride
1963 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Gerald Potterton
Genres: animation, comedy, fantasy
Tones: absurdist, humorous, whimsical
While waiting for his wealthy employer on a sweltering day, a chauffeur drifts into a winter fantasy where the car becomes a toboggan and a chaotic snowbound chase unfolds.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A chauffeur's fever dream where class anxiety dissolves into slapstick winter chaos—Potterton knows exactly how to bury social commentary under whimsy so you don't see it coming, which is the only way to do it right.
The transition from heat-stroke realism into pure animated fantasy demonstrates formal control that traces back to the European avant-garde, yet Potterton's hand-drawn syntax remains distinctly his own—this is craft that knows its lineage and refuses to genuflect to it.
The decision to let the chauffeur's boredom *become* the entire visual palette—that shift from live-action swelter into hand-drawn snowscape on a six-minute budget—is the kind of economy that feels inevitable only after you've seen it executed this perfectly.