
a review by Moelancholy

a review by Moelancholy

Calm is no different, offering only an ambiguous two-act daydream rather than a fleshed-out narrative and a faceless, nameless girl as the main character. There is no dialogue nor character development to speak of, and thematically it is a barren wasteland. So what does it do different than other shorts and why is it worth watching? The answer lies in the title.
The girl looks out the window and starts dreaming.In the following few minutes, sequences of evolution, the girl turning into a bird creature and flying through the skies, turning into a dolphin and swimming across the ocean, traversing planes of chizzled lines in the short's usual handpainterly smudgy style of animation—generally strange but mesmerizing images create an atmosphere of calm. Meanwhile, the minimalist soundtrack consisting of mainly guitars and a synthesizer put one into a state of trance.
Lost in the wasteland.In just under seven minutes, Calm manages to evoke a number of feelings effectively and concisely. It does just what it set out to do and doesn't overstay its welcome. It doesn't accomplish any great feat and is far from life-changing, but it is beautiful in its own kind of way. To those of you who are lovers of the experimental and don't mind something being insubstantial so long as it is poignant and unique, I wholeheartedly recommend this short. Those of you who prefer sticking to more conventional works with some sort of takeaway won't like this one as much, but feel free to watch it if you will. It's only seven minutes anyway.

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