La Maison en Petits Cubes

La Maison en Petits Cubes, known in original Japanese as "Tsumiki no Ie", is a poignant and highly animated short film from Japan. Produced by ROBOT Communications Inc., and directed by Kunio Kato, this touching masterpiece is renowned for its compelling narrative, stunning visuals and deep emotional resonance, winning the hearts of viewers and critics alike. Due for both its technical skill and evocative beauty, the film was awarded the esteemed Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2009.

La Maison en Petits Cubes, which translates to "The House of Small Cubes," presents a vividly surreal waterworld, where human habitation is constantly situated above an ever-rising sea. Entire towns, once vibrant and bustling, are now submerged underwater, with their past footprints slowly disappearing.

At the heart of the story is an elderly man who for many years has been residing in a brick-and-mortar house tower. Due to the relentless rise of water levels, he constantly finds himself needing to build additional floors on top of his existing structure, a house made up of small cubes, hence the title. The towering extension of his house symbolizes his resilient adaptability in the face of a changing world, evoking underlying themes of constancy, survival and rootedness amidst shifting realities.

In a matter of 12 minutes, the short film is designed to tell a profound tale without the use of spoken dialogue. Instead, it depends on instilling meaning through a combination of detailed animations, notable body language, and poignant musical scoring. The style adopted by director Kunio Kato and his team is reminiscent of abstract modernist painting, presenting landscapes, interiors, and characters in a distinctive, semi-realistic fashion. Yet, even with its abstract rendition, the film is resonant with mortality, memory, and the relentless passage of time.

Delicately, the film delves into a man's solitary journey into his past. It all begins when he accidentally drops his favorite pipe into the submerged levels of his home. Fitted in a scuba diving suit, he decides to dive down and recover it. As he explores the underwater rooms, which were once his primary living spaces, he embarks on an emotional descent into his personal history. The underwater segments of his house turn into a museum of his life, filled with objects that trigger poignant memories.

Progressively, each submerged cube allows him a moment to reflect and reminisce, exploring the depth of his own personal experiences from joy to sorrow, love to loss. It is during this deep dive that his past chapters get revisited and his memories are stirred, offering the viewer a captivating look into the man's past, alongside poignant reflections on aging, love, and life´s fleeting yet beautiful impermanence.

The soundtrack accompanying the film, composed by Kenji Kondo, accentuates its narrative with a haunting piano score that encapsulates the lonely struggle against unforgiving time and evokes nostalgia for bygone days. It is also through the film’s cinematic language, such as lighting, shadows, and selective coloring, that intensity of the psychological and emotional journey is underscored.

La Maison en Petits Cubes, with its distinctive aesthetic and contemplative narrative, blurs the line between cinema and art, using animation as a medium of conveying deep human emotions and experiences. It serves as a testament to the wonderful ways in which animation can be perfectly utilized to tell complex, thought-provoking stories. Although silent, the film shouts loudly of the enduring resilience of the human spirit in the face of constant change.

The film, beyond being a mere visual spectacle, is a profound meditation on life. It encourages viewers to appreciate the journey of life with all its complexity and transiency and seize the value of every passing moment.

In sum, La Maison en Petits Cubes is a truly brilliant work and an absolute must-see for fans of high-quality animation. It rewards viewers with an emotional depth and visionary creativity that is seldom found in mainstream animation, offering an immersive, thought-provoking experience that resonates long after the film ends. With a running time of a mere 12 minutes, it is a short yet powerful film that leaves a lasting impact. If you're seeking a deeply touching, beautifully designed, and highly engaging film, La Maison en Petits Cubes should be on the top of your viewing list.