Tram
2012 · 8m · Czech Republic / France
Directed by Michaela Pavlátová
Genres: animation, comedy, romance
Tones: darkly comic, humorous, sensual, surreal, whimsical
A tram conductress drifts into vivid, surreal erotic fantasies about her passengers during her daily route, blurring the line between mundane routine and uninhibited desire.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Female sexual fantasy as morphing Flash animation, age-gated for a reason — Pavlátová is a legit veteran and this isn't pretending to be anything it isn't. Gleefully horny, formally inventive, no apology.
Pavlátová belongs to that great Czech animation lineage — Trnka, Švankmajer — and her Oscar-nominated reverie reclaims female erotic interiority with the morphing fluency of Bill Plympton at his most generous. Age-gated on YouTube, which is itself a kind of compliment to its candor.
Pavlatova's Flash-plus-After-Effects hand-drawn line work — fluid, morphing, transgressive — earned the YouTube age-gate honestly, and 77K views over six years suggests genuine cult traction. A boldly playful animation about female sexual fantasy is rare; the craft is the point.
Reviews
Thirteen years on, Tram hasn't lost any of its punch. Pavlátová's goal was 'to create something funny more than erotic,' and the film delivers both in abundance.
Amusing, provocative, well crafted — a nice film about a tram conductress, her erotical fantasies, her public and the happiness after a work day.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival 2012
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2012, Cristal for Best Short Film
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2012, FIPRESCI Award