What comes after the new wave?

(Higher-res version at the link.)

For some surprising reason - not that it's really surprising, but I am nonetheless surprised - a lot of the more interesting work in computer animation (both for film and online) have come out of France.

Take today's Rambler Helper, for example. This is a student film (originally in French, but translated to English for out viewing enjoyment). And while I don't doubt that a lot of student work of equal quality has been produced in recent years in the U.S. and other countries, I'm kind of stunned at both the effortless quality of this film and the complete and total immersion in a vision that is the stamp of directorial authority.

And while it is effectively a universal story in the film, there's something in the education that is uniquely French. I don't mean the voice of the boy, although that's a small part of the flavor. I mean some large ephemeral thing that's difficult to put your finger on, but you know it when you see it. It completely suffused The Triplets of Bellville, as well.

I guess it's the flavor that playing with the expectations of the form will bring - not metacontextual, necessarily, but these French auteurs like to find what's unique about the form in which they're working, and comment on it in some subtle but deeply salient way.

I don't know. You tell me.

D.