1000 Tiny Birds

The Flying Sailor (2022)

2023-02-14

The Flying Sailor is 8 minutes long and entirely dialogue-free. I don’t say this to criticise or to say that’s a bad thing, but to explain that writing 200 words on this in a brief summary and notation of thought is not going to be strictly straightforward. It’s based on the supposedly true story of a sailor in 1917 who, in an explosion when two boats collide, flew kilometres up into the air before landing safely but now oddly completely naked. The Flying Sailor extrapolates wildly from that to an almost cosmic existential level. The animation style is different from the usual Best Animated Short fare, which is appreciated. The in-camera lighting effects feel indebted to It’s Such A Beautiful Day and other Don Hertzfeldt work (but, to be fair, when all you have is a hammer…). It feels more an exercise in fun animation than in telling any particular narrative or exploring any particular theme. And on those merits, it succeeds! I’ve not watched all the animated shorts yet, but I felt more artistic integrity in this than in The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse over Christmas, so hey, that makes it a frontrunner of two for now.