first draft of film review

As our famous old friend Shakespeare wrote in ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ way back in 1598: “Ay me! for aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth; But either it was different in blood—“, the challenges new lovers face are as common today as ever before. This is certainly the case for Oscar and Quin, who feature in The Oscar Chronicles, created by first-time British director, Nicole O’Malley.

Oscar & Quin, a four minute stop-motion animated short film follows the story of Oscar, a furry blue character, destined for a gloomy life in a landfill site. Within seconds of the film beginning, we’re thrown into the turmoil of discarding outgrown toys and thrown in the literal sense into the rubbish bin. All is not lost when Oscar finds true love with Quin, a broken mannequin. Together they defy the odds and prove that hope is not lost but when faced with a life-threatening situation, their future becomes compromised.

Created on a shoestring budget, O’Malley describes her reasoning behind combining stop-motion and live action in The Oscar Chronicles “when intertwined with live action, stop-motion brings a timeless quality in a way that no other medium provides”.  

There’s something gratifying about seeing the animation process in action, the giving of life to inanimate objects, be they hand-drawn images, computer-generated models or articulated puppets. But there’s something particularly special about stop-motion animation. It’s not the process itself, which is painstakingly laborious, but what goes on behind the scenes.

Set in a rural Norfolk village in contemporary England, it’s a quirky tale of optimism and romance that compels and captivates the audience into the first instalment of The Oscar Chronicles.

RELEASED February 28

DIRECTOR Nicole O’Malley

RUNNING TIME 4 mins.