Maestro

Voices of: Akos Ambrus, Imre Madacsi
Directed by: Geza M. Toth
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Animation, Short, Comedy
Length: 5 minutes
2005

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A maestro is helped by a robotic assistant to prepare for his big performance.

Review:

Tim: I thought the Hungarian film, Maestro was a clever little animated film. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. The film is only 5 minutes long, so the story is quite contained, but it makes an outsized impact.

I thought the animation style was interesting. It's definitely darker and more gritty than we're typically seeing in animated movies. It felt lived in. Contrast this to the brighter-than-life colors of Pixar or Dreamworks movies, films that are sleek and stylishly designed on a computer. It feels like a major departure from what we're used to. The Maestro himself isn't designed to be "cute" or to sell merchandise. Again, atypical to what we've seen from the big animation studios. I thought this was a nice differentiator. I did watch this short with my kids, who both felt like it was "creepy", which is interesting and highlights how different the animation style here is.

I was also a big fan of the 360-degree view. I thought it was interesting to see how the camera kept rotating around our protagonist, almost like the clock, spinning around as the story progressed. That was another unexpected quirk, which made the film interesting and memorable.

I admit that while watching the film, I felt genuine mystery at how it would end. It doesn't give you much time, to wait in suspense, but the whole film is built for that final one moment of the film. The movie's climax is quite brilliant. I won't spoil it for you, but it gives the entire movie an extra layer. Geza M. Toth did a great job writing it, in addition to directing it. It's not life-changing or revolutionary, but it's quite a clever conclusion.

In short (ha), I enjoyed Maestro. It's definitely an intriguing little film and I can see why it was nominated for an Oscar. I haven't seen many films from Hungary, so that was an added bonus. It's definitely a short worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



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