Plot (SPOILERS)
In a tall city apartment building lives an elderly man named
Ivor. One day while placing another pot of flowers on his cluttered window sill
he sees the pot fall down and break. He then imagines himself being the one to
fall down the tall building and decides to take precautionary measures. He
moves out of the city and into a two-story townhouse. As he begins to take some
of his things upstairs, however, a book falls from his arms and tumbles down
the stairs. Ivor again imagines himself meeting the same fate and decides to
move once more, this time into a small one-story house in the outskirts of
town.
As he begins to settle in, a series of troubling events occur.
First, he bumps into a box and drops the teapot he was holding. He looks at the
broken pieces on the floor and carefully backs into a chair. When he sits down
the chair wobbles back against the wall and causes his framed pictures to fall
and break. Ivor looks distressed as he slowly backs away through the front door,
not watching the extra step behind him. He stumbles backwards and finally
falls.
Ivor stays still on the grass with his eyes closed shut and
his arms around himself. After a few seconds he opens his eyes and sits up-
still intact. He looks around at the red, orange, yellow, and white flowers
surrounding him. After taking in the moment he grabs the pot of flowers from
his porch, takes off the tape holding the broken pieces together, and plants
them amongst the other flowers. He then rises from the ground and smiles as he
looks onto the horizon.
Let’s Talk About It
Symbolism aside, I think being afraid to fall is a legitimate
fear, especially for elderly people. Since our bones lose mechanical integrity
as we age, falling could result in irreparable damage. We can also view falling
as any event that could cause us harm or pain. I think taking reasonable
measures to prevent such events are justified. This is why I don’t blame Ivor
for wanting to be careful.
Unfortunately, Ivor wasn’t being cautious- he was being
paranoid. I found it unreasonable for him to move from place to place in order
to avoid falling although I understand why he did it. This approach seemed to
me like he was running away from his fear which I don’t think was the right
solution. The issue, however, comes in drawing the line between what is
reasonable and unreasonable.
How can we tell when our fears have gotten the best of us?
This is a difficult question to answer, but I think in Ivor’s case his paranoia
peaked right before he fell. There were no stairs or windows around, only himself-
the one thing he couldn’t run away from.
When he finally did fall, something amazing happened:
nothing! He grew so irrationally afraid of falling that when he did he seemed surprised
to have survived. I think we’re all guilty of blowing our fears out of
proportion and, after confronting them, realizing they aren’t as scary as we thought.
I’m glad we saw Ivor rise after falling. It shows he grew stronger from the experience,
just as the planted flowers will too.
My Critique
This short film was one of the shorter ones I’ve seen with
the story ending at about four minutes. Along with this easy time length, the
animation had a simple, to the point art style and delivered an inspiring message
about overcoming our fears to enjoy life.
The character had minimal facial expressions, with changes
made only to his eyes and mustache, but it was enough to convey what he was
feeling and bring him to life. The settings were very simple with few props
which helped draw attention to the character, and the music was in perfect
synchrony with the storyline. And like in many short films, stop motion animation
did a great job with connecting this story to reality and therefore making the
character and his dilemma easily relatable.
My key takeaway from this short: It’s OK to be afraid to fall, just be ready to pick yourself back up when you do.
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