(courtesy IMDb)
SNAPSHOT
Students at École des Nouvelles Images created BOOM, an award-winning darkly comedic animation about a pair of birds who try to save their eggs during the eruption of a volcano in the center of their island home. All of the other birds had escaped to the water as soon as the volcano started making noise, however the couple knew that they had to save their offspring as well as themselves. This leads to some very interesting interactions between the two. (courtesy and (c) Laughing Squid)
Is it possible for a short film to be both hysterically funny and deeply moving all at once, without one cancelling the other out, or at the very least, rendering it mute and unaffecting?
Why yes, yes it is, and proof positive is 2022’s BOOM, directed by Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, Laurie Pereira de Figueiredo, Charles Di Cicco and Yannick Jacquin from École des Nouvelles Images, and featured on Laughing Squid, which shows two devoted parents doing their utmost to rescue their four eggs from a destructive volcanic eruption.
While the rest of the colony hightails it to the waves in no time flat, leaving their eggs to potentially boil and scramble, these two intrepid souls go all out to make sure the next generation are around to tell the tale.
Using some inspired slapstick animation and charactersation that forms and works super quickly to absolute winning effect, BOOM is riotously funny and incredibly serious joy that tells a taut, moving and laugh out loud funny story with dialogue-free elegance.
It’s a gem that will in six or so short minutes will make your day and perhaps even make you reassess what your priorities might be in a similar situation …