The Fan and the Flower (2005) User Reviews (8)

Huh...

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 12 May 2006]

On one hand, what better than animation to create an unusual and unique story like this. On the other hand, where did it come from? It's absurd, but in a way that's neither technically bad nor good.

It almost has a quality of a fable or a nighttime story a parent makes up for their child on the spot before bedtime. On one hand, that gives it refreshing freedom to do whatever it wants and go wherever it feels, but on the other hand, why? However, it's dry wit and loving appeal make it very entertaining and worth the watch, and for a rough and simplistic style of animation it does create some very interesting lighting techniques. It seems like a really, really good animation some kid did in his notebook at school, so if that appeals to you then by all means see it. It's just kind of odd.

Oh, and Giamatti's narration is great.

--PolarisDiB

A very sweet and poetic cartoon which is also unmistakably a Bill Plympton cartoon

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 13 December 2006]

How this one missed being nominated for an Oscar, I'll never figure out. Possibly the committee didn't think it was a Bill Plympton because it is, at its heart, a love story. Who knows? In any case, I found it delightful and charming. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning:

Most people at least somewhat familiar with Bill Plympton's work from shorts like Your Face and 25 Ways To Quit Smoking would probably be surprised to learn that this is a love story-and a beautiful one at that. The twist is (and with Plympton little, if anything, is simple and straightforward) that the star-crossed lovers are a ceiling fan and a flowering potted plant.

There are all kinds of Plympton touches in this short-his animation style, some of the visuals paired with the narration (as when the fan is first trying to impress the plant with his three different speeds) complement and accentuate each other quite well and there is humor tinged with sorrow here.

This is a visually marvelous short, with one section in the latter part of the short showing the passage of time and the changing of circumstances by a very creative and effective use of silhouettes in a doorway.

The ending of the short is marvelous and mixes tragedy and triumph, where out of ruination springs renewal and love transcends life. It's all tied together very well by the narration, done by actor Paul Giamatti.

This short is available on a DVD collection of shorts which compiles eight of the shorts nominated for the Academy Awards in the Animated and Live-Action Short categories (all five Live-Action and three of five Animated nominees are here, as well as two extra animated shorts added to fill out the disc). The disc itself is excellent and is well worth getting for this short and the others. Highly recommended.

an unlikely romance

[acmelita · 10/10 · 10 January 2008]

This is departure from Bill Plympton's usual work, which is not to say that his cadre of fans won't find it equally enjoyable.

It is a charming little film depicting the unlikely romance between a ceiling fan and a potted flower. I know how odd that sounds but this engaging film makes it work. The cute little old lady shown only in silhouette reminds me of my own grandmother. And the sacrifice and twist at the end make for an enjoyable pay-off.

You can get it over at www.Filmporium.com. The $5 DVD also includes the frustrated rodent tale "Gopher Broke" and the appealing short "The Hill Farm".

a beautiful and warm animation film about true love

[needcaffein · 10/10 · 6 September 2005]

I just saw this film tonight at FANTOCHE, the international festival for animated films which is held in Baden, Switzerland biannually. And I give a "TWO THUMBS UP". I was pretty much fed up with animations with futuristic features and tons of overloaded graphic technology, however finally I have found one full of pure natural beauty and heart-touching warmness! Although the drawing itself seems very simple and empty, you will see that the film is fuller by all means than any other animated movies. The background music also plays a big role in captivating your attention during each and every second of the film. The beautiful story line tells us what true love is. Made me think if I was ever a "fan" to someone. I cried for 3 minutes during the whole 7 minutes of the movie :)

Beautiful Story!

[emmy58 · 10/10 · 31 March 2011]

Wow, Dan O'Shannon, what an exquisite, will-be-a-classic, little story you wrote, and narrated by one of my favorite actors, Paul Giamatti. I thought the narrative of the story transcended the sentimental ingeniously by having an ordinary ceiling fan as your story's protagonist and his love interest a diminutive, nondescript (for a time) potted plant. Their spiritual copulation reminded me of Donne's famous poem "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning":

If they be two, they are two so / As stiff twin compasses are two; / Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show / To move, but doth, if th' other do. //

And though it in the centre sit, / Yet when the other far doth roam, / It leans and hearkens after it, / And grows erect, as that comes home.//

Such wilt thou be to me, who must / Like th' other foot, obliquely run; / Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun.

I only wish The Fan and the Flower were in book form too, so I could read it to my grandkids...I would set it alongside George Saunders' The Very Persistent Gappers of Fripp. They'd love it! And I love your TV shows, Dan--Modern Family and all the rest--but I hope you also give us more of these gems...what a gift, thank you! And thank you for dropping in on my sister's class tonight in the snow! Your presence was magical and inspiring. :) Mary 3/30/2011

This is Plympton?!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 11 April 2008]

An old lady lives in a house and her houseplant and ceiling fan somehow fall in love. In the end, the ceiling fan kills itself to save the life of its beloved fading houseplant. I kid you not--this REALLY is the plot of this short film!!

I know a lot of people liked this film because it gave them a nice furry feeling, but this bothered me for two major reasons. First, the idea of a houseplant falling in love with a ceiling fan is just stupid. Sure, I can suspend disbelief--but not THAT far! Second, I am a fan (perhaps a bad choice of words!) of the work of Bill Plympton and this sure didn't seem anything like classic Plympton!! Instead of the usual wonderful colored pencil shading, the film was almost completely in black and white outlines. Additionally, the sick and irreverent sense of humor usually in his film is replaced by schmaltz--pure saccharine which is something I never want when I sit down to watch a Plypton film. Instead, give me weirdness, violence and cynicism--that's why many people have grown to love the man!! What we have here is a rather dumb but mildly interesting film...and nothing more.

By the way, on the new DVD "Dog Days", this short is included along with Plympton's dog series. However, there are no closed captions or subtitles--a serious concern for me because my deaf daughter loved the dog films (they need no word) but I had to translate as she watched this one. What a pain.

Classic simplicity

[dbborroughs · 9/10 · 28 December 2008]

Wonderful short film from Bill Plympton.

The plot is simple a fan and a flower fall in love. To say more than that would spoil one of the most charming animated films ever made.

Told with simple black and white lines this is a film that will move you. Its a simple tale told perfectly. I know when the film ended I was upset that it didn't continue on. The wishing of that was pure greed on my part since the film is exactly as long as it needs to be. there are no grand flourishes or showy pieces. Its simple economy.

See this film. More importantly see this film with some one you love since in its way it will say more about how you feel then words can express

Different but Effective

[Michael_Elliott · 15 May 2010]

Fan and the Flower, The (2005)

*** (out of 4)

Nice animated short from Plympton about a lonely ceiling fan all alone in a room until one day when the old lady brings in a flower. The fan and flower eventually fall in love but soon the old woman forgets to take care of the flower and it finds itself dying. Okay, yes it's far-fetched that a fan and a flower would fall in love but the story here is just too cute where there won't be any problem suspending your disbelief. The movie isn't as colorful as some of Plymtpon's other shorts but I didn't have a problem with this as the black and white animation looked very good and fit the story quite nicely. I thought the story was pretty simple but they milked every bit of emotion they could out of it and in the end their love was actually quite touching.