BAF1 - Mute

I already talked about Job, Joris & Marieke last week, but upon seeing Mute for the nth time I feel like I need to talk more about it.


MUTE from Job, Joris & Marieke on Vimeo.

I was quite surprised honestly to see that this short was still in festival regulation. After seeing it for the first time at Playgrounds in 2013 and seeing it winning an award for the best independent film, I was really proud of them. I wasn't that surprised because the short was actually really clever. I remember I was a bit out of it during Playgrounds last year because a lot of things were happening at the same time at school but also in my personal situation. I've also seen the short in Utrecht, at Holland Animation Film Festival. So I was actually quite surprised to see the short still in festival regulations since the full version is available on their website. (What is the usual time a production plays at festivals, though?)

The plot for this short is quite clever and a really good choice to start off the festival. It's light, a bit gruesome, but mostly funny because of the simple shapes used for characters and pastel tone colours in combination with the "gore-y" actions happening in the film. I guess you're not really sure what to expect in the beginning, I heard some distant and muffled (questioning) chuckles in the beginning which bursted into big laughing fits throughout the rest of the film after the plot made its twist. (Which I'm really glad for. JJ&M, if you're reading this: another great response, well done!)

After the series of short shorts was finished I have been eavesdropping a bit on lots of conversations, happy to hear Mute belonged in the top 3 to a lot of people. I must say, I'm a bit biased here, mostly because I already know the short and really love it, but a lot of these shorts weren't my cup of tea, so some Dutch pride really does it for me.