Director and Writer Sonia Estévez’s short stop motion film is a beautiful depiction of the life span of the normal woman and how she perceives their existence as a whole. The idea of the normal woman being depicted as some one living on strings is a fascinating bit of symbolism. Over the course of ten minutes, the animation depicts her as someone being held up by strings who seeks independence almost immediately.
It’s a hard row to hoe though as she breaks through walls and is brought in to rebirth with a conveyor belt giving birth to babies. After an interesting sequence involving the sorting of babies it’s fascinating to see this character peg their own holes, and ultimately accept their own fates. When she finally finds her stride and she seeks out becoming a mother as a sense of adventure. Estévez, who also animates, successfully conveys the struggles and joys of motherhood through a montage of pictures that feel so down to Earth and human.
There isn’t one moment in the silent short that doesn’t feel sincere or genuine toward the audience who will be able to connect with the woman in spite of their inherent differences. Estévez’s work of art watches so much like stop motion interpretive dance, and she’s about communicating strong feelings through motion and subtle nuances that can’t be punctuated with speaking language. It’s fine work of art That I want more people to see down the road.
This year, the 5th edition of Film Maudit 2.0, Highways’ showcase and celebration of outré films, runs Thursday June 12th to Sunday June 16th.