When you think of Pixar, your mind likely draws up images of classic features like Toy Story or Monsters Inc. The studio is renowned for its groundbreaking animation techniques and kid-friendly stories which grip audiences of all ages. But, for two Pixar animators, they believed the studio could do more with the medium and wanted to create a stunning film geared towards adults.
And, man, did they deliver.
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Not long ago, a short film appeared on Vimeo titled “Borrowed Time.” At over six minutes, the footage tells the story of a traumatized Sheriff who is forever changed by an accident and struggles to carry on with his life. The film was created by co-directors Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj over the last five years while they work on films such as Brave, The Good Dinosaur, and Inside Out.
However, “Borrowed Time” is nothing like those other films. In fact, there are few films under Pixar that could compare to this stunning animated short. “Borrowed Time” is a film meant for adults with its tense action, vibrant bloodshed, and overt depictions of suicidal thoughts. At its core, the animated short centers itself around forgiveness and whether traumatic wounds can ever be closed – and the creators made “Borrowed Time” because they felt it was time for Western animation to explore those dark themes.
Coats told Variety that, “In America, animation has largely become synonymous with kids’ films, whereas elsewhere around the world it’s celebrated as a medium that can be used to tell any story. We feel this cultural difference limits the potential audience and range of themes in American animation, and is a large part of why we chose to make ‘Borrowed Time.’”
Co-creator Hamou-Lhadj chimed in as well, saying that Coat and he wanted to “do something out of our comfort zone.”
Their short film will be available on Vimeo for free streaming for a limited time. “Borrowed Time” has already won several big awards like the Best Animated Short at the St. Louis Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at the Nashville Film Festival. It also won Best in Show at Siggraph, giving the film a total of three placements at Academy Award qualifying events. Later this month, it will receive an award for Best Short Film at the Spark Animation Festival in Vancouver.
If you want to read the synopsis for “Borrowed Time,” you can check it out below:
“A weathered Sheriff returns to the remains of an accident he has spent a lifetime trying to forget. With each step forward, the memories come flooding back. Faced with his mistake once again, he must find the strength to carry on.”
You can also watch a special featurette about the short film and why it was made over at Vimeo as well.
If the short film wasn’t enough to make you feel all the feels, then you can also check out this pit of Pixar sadness. One angsty fan made a supercut video that imagined what it would be like if some of the studio’s most famous films ended at the sad parts.
So, yeah: Bring tissues.
[H/T] Variety
