Dreams and Desires: Family Ties (2006)

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One thousand channels and nothing's on. Simply call it the 'Boob tube'. You get the idea...So many of these channels are saturated with blatant infomercials and hack wannabee producers groping for even a few eyeballs to curry favor with household product makers to grab some advertising revenue. That seems to be the genesis of so many "reality" programs. Among those hoards of unimaginative 'media moguls' few have the artistic talent to draw and animate a piece of work like this. It's quite apparent that the narrative of 'Dreams and Desires' is not about your old aunty fumbling about with her shiny new video camera while she makes her way around town. In fact, it lacks any substantial narrative at all.While I admire the talent and animation style of 'Dreams and Desires', the narrative, which is little more than a cheap imitation of those "reality" programs, leaves me cold.If Joanna Quinn had shown half as much imagination in developing the narrative as she obviously displays in the animation, this could have been an excellent effort. Maybe she never saw the PSAs (public service announcements) for 'turn off the TV' day?

Recently I've watched about 200 short animated films, from the very beginning of the medium (before 1910) up to this year. The '70's, '80's and '90's were amazingly strong. "Dreams and Desires - Family Ties" is however the single animated short this decade (other than the excellent 'Everything Will Be OK' from the same year), since the exquisite 'Father And Daughter' from 2000, that I like as much as the best from those earlier decades.Animated shorts these days seem to be obsessed with details, irrelevant details. The clothes need to have almost the yarn that made them showing, the faces need to enclose eyes that are as near to actual eyes as they can be. Where is the imagination in that? Ideas appear to be being forgotten (or not thought up) for this wasteful and pedantic style to prosper (and take over.) Pixar seem to be pioneers in the ugly animation and yet Ratatouille was for me, the best full-length film of its year. Their shorts though are like out-takes off the cutting room floor and yet bizarrely win Oscars. Short films though can be exquisite to look at and with perfectly formed and thought-out stories.That's where "Dreams And Desires" comes in: hope yet for the short animated art, that it may be clinging on after all. Here we have a delicious drawn style, expressive rather than strictly accurate. The story is bursting with wit, rather than pandering for laughs as expected with full-length animated films. It's a short that could without appearing to force the point too much, be placed alongside 'Yozhik v Tumane', 'Surogat', 'Anna & Bella', 'The Band Concert', 'Le Chapeau', 'Une Nuit Sur Le Mont', 'When The Day Breaks', 'Balance' and 'Miest Kinooperator'.

DREAMS AND DESIRES is one of many animated short films that make up THE ANIMATION SHOW VOLUME THREE. This is an excellent collection and although VOLUME TWO was pretty poor, VOLUMES ONE and THREE were both very good and are worth seeking.The first thing you'll probably notice is all the nudity. While most of it is pretty innocent and not especially salacious, there is quite a bit and the film is a bit crude here and there (with a scene of a dog unloading his bowels on the rug). The second thing you'll probably notice is the animation style--which is wonderful. In some ways, it looks a bit like the cartoons of Bill Plympton--though the hand drawn animation is less detailed but far more billowy and quite beautiful. I don't think they used colored pencils but perhaps pastel crayons--I'm really not sure but it is lovely and unique.The plot involves an older woman who has agreed to videotape a friend's daughter's wedding. However, the lady ends up mucking up practically everything and the wedding turns out to be a bit of a fiasco. Cute stuff and well worth a look.

Joanna Quinn has created the first reality series in animation with Dreams and Desires, Family Ties. A typical British family is followed on a wedding day with a hand-held camera. Naturally, everything goes horribly wrong, and it's extremely funny, as the woman making the recordings keeps commenting on what happens. These comments become funnier and more ridiculous (although I don't know Quinn's relatives, so who knows how realistic they actually are ;) ) while having more and more drinks. As we should, we even follow the characters on the wc. The animation is even better then in Quinn's previous work, I personally thought. The great camera 'work' or the angles make this short very dynamic. I enjoyed it a lot. If you get a chance to see it, do so.