Holy Shit!
a review by sadJoe
a review by sadJoe
(Although this is only a 6 minute short film and may not seem like a big deal, I just want to point out that this review does have blatant spoilers)
I don’t consider myself to have the best taste when it comes to anything. Whether this applies to my palate for food or various expressions of art, it’s all the same. With that being said, I want to state that critiquing a short animated film does not come naturally for me. I’ll refrain from discussing too many different angles on Holy Shit! and instead focus on dissecting the film’s story itself. I hope to make the story more clear to the reader. This film makes it rather difficult to figure out what the heck is going on. By putting the plot into words, I want to show that Takuya Shibuya did not intend for Holy Shit! to be an ambiguously hysterical short film for graduate school; rather, there is something resembling a concrete purpose for this film. If one pays attention, the meaning behind Holy Shit! becomes apparent.
Holy Shit! has an odd opening sequence. As soon as the film begins, an enigmatic, translucent figure shows up. It’s hard to make out what it is, but it does not seem to be a human being--at least not fully. The figure begins to morph, as its shades begin to ebb and flow between light and dark. With the film appearing only in black and white, the creature and everything on screen shifts in and out of focus, contrasting the darkness and the light. This allows for the nature of the figure to become visible to the audience.
The figure’s face resembles that of an ape or a gorilla, while the body is that of a nude human female. The perpetual shifting of the shading makes it hard to tell, but I watched this film a few times. I paused during this scene to make sure that the body was indeed that of a woman (I’ve been outside a few times, so I have seen my fair share of the opposite sex).
The nature of this ape-lady image is yet unclear, but it could be a nod back to the initial opening statement of the film: “Nobody will get my loneliness.” Could this ape-lady be the individual expressing this sentiment? The answer to this question is not certain, but one can’t help but think that this is Shibuya’s intention. The rest of the film seems to hint at this being the director’s attempt to implicate their own feelings upon the creature.
As the film progresses, the ape-lady begins to caress the ground with all four legs when, suddenly, it lets out an [un]holy roar from its anus. It lets out a massive asstastic alarm while a few turds proceed to fall out. After these globs of poop are released, the screen fades to black while a woesome tune begins to play. It’s iconic and incredibly fitting for a film of this caliber.
The aforementioned scene is more of an opening to introduce the title and provide a brief insight into the film. This scene makes a lot more sense after watching the film in its entirety. Following this scene, the film’s unnamed protagonist is introduced: A slimy, white anthropomorphic figure that resembles an elephant. This elephant-man sports a fedora and finds himself twirling around, dancing in the midst of its living room. The creature stands before a sketch that resembles the ape-lady that appeared during the opening.
Later on, elephant-man goes outside. He is fishing. Clearly enjoying himself, he catches fish after fish with ease. One may assume that this is his lifeline. It’s not clear how he provides for himself like this. It seems that this either is how he feeds himself or how he makes a living. Perhaps it’s both. Regardless of whatever it may be, this peaceful life will not last long. It’s only a matter of time before this peaceful rustic life is stripped away from elephant-man.
The tone and the mood of the story alters completely within seconds. There’s a paradigm shift. The music changes, becoming more chaotic. The colors and shading becomes darker. The story is no longer focused upon the elephant-man but upon different creatures instead. Although they look similar, they have distinct differences. Instead of having a trunk on their face, these creatures have one between their legs. In addition to this, their faces have a snout resembling that of a pig.
These pig-like creatures go around, wielding their penis snouts. They swing them here and there, walking all weirdly about. They even have sword fights with one another. It looks really bizarre, and it’s hard to tell what is going on. At this point in the film, it definitely seems that the film is aimless and without purpose. I honestly thought that the Shibuya just made this for shits and giggles and was only focused on the animation, fulfilling the requirements for their graduate schooling. This feeling began to wither away for me during the remaining portions of the film.
After this hectic penis snout scene, the film takes the audience back to the elephant-man’s homestead. His peaceful life as a fisherman is interrupted. A huge god-like hand thrusts down a tower in the midst of the pond. The elephant-man is taken back with fear, but his body language shows that he is not surprised. There is a shot during this part that shows a dilated pupil of an eye, one which presumably belongs to the elephant-man. An absence of light in the eye dictates despair and nods back to the beginning of the film where “nobody will get my loneliness” is first introduced as a theme.
Filled with resolve and fear, the elephant-man begins to climb the tower. Nothing slows him down. Something possesses him, causing him to reach higher and higher, climbing faster and faster. He resembles that of Sisyphus pushing the boulder to the top of the mountain. After reaching the top of the tower, he begins to rest. Within seconds, the god-like hand (the one which placed down the tower in the first place) flicks him off as though he were nothing more than an ant.
As he is falling, the film takes the audience back into the eye of the elephant-man. This is where the puzzling pieces of the film’s meaning begin to fall in place. Holy Shit! and its chaotic gibberish finally begins to make some sense. The scene zooms into the eye where the ape-lady from the opening scene is shown. Zooming in on her arse when the poop initially fell out, it shows that the turds were living creatures. It demonstrates them as living. This shit is not just shit. This shit has an actual life cycle.
As the shit falls out of the ape-lady’s arse, they all resemble that of the elephant-man. The elephant-man creatures end up on a conveyor belt. This is where they are stripped away of their trunks. The god-like hands remove the trunks from their faces, leaving behind a pig-like snout. As they are sent on their way, a new trunk magically grows and poofs out from their crotch region. It looks like what would take place if someone popped a 3-foot erection. All of the pig-like creatures are mass produced and sent out in this manner. The film ends soon after this scene, as it continues to expound and show the rest of the shits’ life cycle.
I apologize for dragging out this summary for so long. My intention was to make the story as clear as possible because it is very difficult to discern what is taking place on the screen. This unpacking is my attempt to put my experience of the visuals into my own words. The only reason I am able to illustrate the process of Holy Shit! and its story is due to the fact that I watched the film multiple times. Though there are many ways that Holy Shit! can be interpreted, I feel that this story is most suitable to be viewed through an allegorical lens.
I cannot say that I know exactly what the creator had in mind when making this film because I do not. Honestly, I do not have any clue what their intentions were. Though that is the case, I do think this was made through genuine spirit. Despite the absurdity of Holy Shit! and its premise, I could sense raw emotion during each frame. This felt like a portrait of one’s innermost feelings; it seems like an attempt to illustrate the anxieties, desires, and struggles of an individual searching for the answers to the problems they find in their own life and in the world around them.
Each and every individual is unique. Expressing ourselves fully is difficult, if not impossible. No one can truly understand another. These thoughts are concepts that the film drives into the audience throughout its 362 second life span. Despite the barriers that separate us as individuals, it does not mean that we cannot put in the effort to be there for those around us. Perhaps Holy Shit! intends to show us that life itself is fundamentally flawed. Through this, we can assume that even though life is shit, it’s “holy shit” as long as we are all in this together. All of us are the elephant-man.
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