I Met the Walrus
I’m so glad there’s an official version of Jerry Levitan and Josh Raskin’s Oscar-nominated short, “I Met the Walrus,” online now. If you haven’t heard of the film, here’s the YouTube blurb:
In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it.
It’s a beautiful bit of sustained motion graphics—relentlessly inventive and sublimely detailed. It works on so many levels at once: as illustration of John Lennon’s words; an homage to some of the aesthetics The Beatles help popularize; an anti-war demonstration piece; and a heartfelt doodle-gone-mad from the mind of a curious 14-year-old.
I’m still bitter about this film not snagging the Oscar. Peter the Wolf took it instead. Whatever.
I Met the Walrus Official Site
Thanks to Dan Cooper for the nudge.
Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 12:45 pm |
thanks for the (2nd) post on this incredibly beautiful short.
it’s what has been moving me lately (at least since it was nominated) into the beautiful possibilities of integrating animation and civic/social awareness.
i love what josh raskin and his crew did with this and can’t wait to see their next piece.
(keep an eye on kidsandexplosions.com)
Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 4:16 pm |
Wow, no bitterness required- Peter and the Wolf was Brilliant and required years of work and preparation by dozens of people. John Lennon’s capsulized peace-quotables and pretty animation just didn’t speak to me in the same way.. But maybe that’s because I consider stop motion to require more work and preparation than something most of us do in front of computers everyday..
Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 4:39 pm |
saw this at the MIAF recently and absolutely loved it.
nice.
Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 4:55 pm |
I think it is the most OVER estimated film in 2007. Totally banal, typical, ordinary, indifferent, unobtrusive, cliched,…plain work. If ‘Any college student’ make some moving image, it would look like this. It has anything new?
Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 8:21 pm |
i saw all the oscar nominations.. this is clearly most weak project.. the animations are well done, and the whole piece its a nice motion piece but lack of concept!
john lennon sounds silly and drunk.. if i didn’t know that was he in the tape. I will probably think that is the same drunk hippie in the corner of the office talking about peace and the end of the world for a couple bucks
peter and the wolf is a nice universal story, superb realization.. easy choice for the academy awards.
its not all about motion graphics.. nice stories and good concepts count too.
Friday, July 11th 2008 at 1:59 am |
this is great
Friday, July 11th 2008 at 3:01 am |
Although both the concept and technique is not new, this is at all not bland… In this day and age, John Lennon’s words, amplified through the use of this simple yet sublime animation indeed made a strong impression on me and I guess for many others as well. I like this short piece a lot however I do think that Peter and the Wolf deserves the award.
Friday, July 11th 2008 at 9:39 am |
I love this.
Friday, July 11th 2008 at 2:32 pm |
I want to say I saw this like a year ago. I haven’t seen Peter the Wolf yet, but I’ll have to check it out.
Friday, July 11th 2008 at 2:41 pm |
I’ll also say that no matter which of the nominees had the best message or what have you, this one is cool because it kind of shows you how John Lennon was a real person, just like you and I, not just some god of music like everyone paints him. That’s so awesome of John to have given a 14 year old kid an interview after sneaking into his room. The huge musicians that would do that these days can all be counted on one hand.
Saturday, July 12th 2008 at 6:04 am |
kids these days.. sheesh….
Saturday, July 12th 2008 at 8:53 pm |
Around the same time, in June 1969, Lennon held a peace seminar in Ottawa, a video of which has just been released.
Monday, July 14th 2008 at 1:22 am |
Wow. Amazing. I have to echo Joe Clay. I get a sense of Lennon as a real person and the animation and timing is flawless.