Negative Space (2017) User Reviews (12)

Can definitely see why the Academy likes it.

[Hellmant · 8/10 · 1 March 2018]

'NEGATIVE SPACE': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A 5-minute animated short film about a young boy, named Sam, who's always away from his dad, due to the busy parent's frequent business trips. The father is still able to keep a relationship with his son though, by teaching the boy how to pack a suitcase. This short was directed by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata. I found it to be simple, but quirky and interesting enough (in a very odd way). The animation has a lot of character to it, and so does the film. It's even a little touching, and funny as well (in some places). I can definitely see why the Academy likes it.

Life as a Suitcase

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 26 February 2019]

As we venture through the years, how much that we do is important? The relationship a son has with his absentee father occasionally comes back to how to pack a suitcase, how to get the most out of the space we have. I felt truly sad at the conclusion of this film. What have we done to take what little we have?

The Little Things

[boblipton · 7/10 · 13 February 2018]

How do fathers and sons connect? Is it by playing games? By hugging? To this day, I'm not sure how my father and I ever did it, although we did.... I'd like to think so, anyway. I know after I spoke at my father's memorial service (and my brother didn't), he smiled and said "That's who he was to you." In this animated short, a father and son connect by the father, a traveling salesman, teaching his son how to do something very important to him: pack a suitcase well.

The piece is a trifle about trifles, yet anyone who has ever cared deeply about another individual will tell you that it's not the big things that matter, but the trifles that no one else notices that gets you through, the secrets out in the open. I'm not certain how much the visual choices add to this short -- animating it as a computer-derived claymation piece is odd. The choices don't really have time to affect the impact, as it is short enough to maintain its impact.

Incredible work. Imaginative, beautifully crafted, lit and shot

[Marwan-Bob · 9/10 · 2 February 2020]

"Look at all that wasted space, look at all that wasted Time" One of the best Father Son Stories ever made even if it's only a 5 min Short Film, The level of creativity is stunning.

All of these other pundits who say that this cartoon takes five minutes . . .

[oscaralbert · 9/10 · 4 March 2018]

. . . to do what COCO requires a couple hours to accomplish seem to be a tad unfair to that animated feature film. While it's true that NEGATIVE SPACE also deals with the issue of human mortality, concluding with a snappier "punch line" than COCO, SPACE's brief running time doesn't allow much if any time for song and dance routines. (Though COCO may win an Oscar tonight, it's not necessarily even the most inspiring movie released during the past year about a kid playing a guitar: FOREVER MY GIRL may take the prize for that.) Despite the fact that no one will learn to play the guitar (or any other musical instrument) by devoting the five minutes necessary to enjoy NEGATIVE SPACE, if you pay attention you will pick up valuable tips about packing your luggage. (As for playing the guitar, COCO--to some extent--and FOREVER MY GIRL explicitly teach us that guitar playing is an innate skill, such as writing left-handed, running, or speaking in multiple languages: you're either born with such talents, or you're totally SOL and should NOT try to pound a square peg into your round zero of a skill set.)

A quirky universe for a very simple story told with the reserve of its narrators

[mmaaddllyy · 7/10 · 10 June 2020]

Beautiful animation. Sometimes death just leaves behind some weird trademarks from the person who is no longer with us. I completely identify with this little story. Its emotion is in its simplicity. The negative space for me is also the negative space in the heart of this little boy who has grown up and could never connect more with his dad.

An Imaginative and Creative Short Film That Lacks Emotional Depth

[Fahmid_Azim · 6/10 · 7 February 2019]

'Negative Space' is ornamented with imaginative structures delivering very little to the emotional depth of the short film.

At the beginning of the film, we see the protagonist packing bag just the way his father once taught him. The depiction of that scene is amazing, creative and appropriate. It shows the intention of the makers to make it look imaginative and creative. The animation is good but doesn't feel polished. The voice acting is good but the sound mixing is bad. The background music and sound effects are good but due to bad sound mixing these elements couldn't add a magic to the 5 mins long animation. Even at some point, the voice of the protagonist feels scratchy like it's recorded with a cheap microphone but actually the background score and the voice didn't mix well and gave that bad effect.

The film showcases some of the finest creative animations I've ever seen. The car scene, where the road becomes a zipper of a briefcase and the car passes unzipping it and then the briefcase opens bringing us to the past of the protagonist, is simply awesome. Then the underwater scene was very creative too. There are scenes that show the emotional relationship of the protagonist and his father through bag packing but unfortunately that can't give emotional depth to that sweet relationship. It felt like all these things were happening just to deliver a punchline, which was not even earned through the film. The film also gives a hint at the distant relationship between the father and the mother. That hint was just there but not well developed, may be because the creators wanted to focus more on the father-son relationship which they couldn't justify too! The facial expressions of the characters were just flat. This can be deliberately done to focus more on inner emotions but I didn't buy it.

'Negative Space' is a well animated and very creative short film that lacks emotional depth. It could be a good film if the emotional bonding between the father and son was strengthen more by adding extra 3/4 mins to the film.

I agree with Sekraan..."One Punchline"....and not much more.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 12 February 2018]

I'll be blunt. This year's collection of Oscar nominated animated films are a rather sorry lot...there, I said it. Most of the films are nice and reasonably well made but really nothing more....which makes me wonder who picks these films as well as what criteria they are using for their selections. Of all the picks, I think "Negative Space" is the most confusing as I just can't see what makes this one special.

The animation is okay. The characters are unique but also a little grotesque. The story is about a boy who connects with his father through efficient packing of suitcases. And, all this is punctuated by a joke at the very end that made many in the theater laugh...but I kept thinking "all this just for one joke??!!".

One punchline...

[Sekraan · 5/10 · 11 February 2018]

Some creative and inventive moments. The underwater bits were great. I really enjoyed how the animation brought the various luggage components to life. But the entire short was a set-up for one punchline at the end, basically. The ending was good, and got laughs out of everyone in the theater, but it wasn't enough to justify the whole 5 minutes spent before it.

The animation was creative and pleasant to watch, but the audio (in English) was grating throughout. Sounded amateur, compared to the level of quality of animation and the overall level of quality of all the other Oscar nominated shorts. The narrator sounded like he was speaking into a cheap microphone, the sound effects didn't sync up evenly with the visuals, and the volume was too loud.

This was the worst of the Oscar nominated animation shorts I watched for 2017.

Pack for my father again

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 January 2018]

"Negative Space" is a French English-language I watched the German dub though, no problem as the only language spoken is the voiceover narration) animated short film from 2017 that runs for slightly over 5 minutes with credits, slightly under 5 without. This one brought the two directors Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter their first Oscar nomination and we will see if it has a shot at winning in a year where Kobe Bryant, the guys from Gruffalo/Room on the Broom, Pixar and another French short film are in contention for the win. I personally doubt it, but we will see. I have seen Lou and Revolting Rhymes before this one here and I liked those better even if none of these two was really amazing either. Anyway, Negative Space is about a father-son relationship that relies to a huge amount on the father telling the son how to perfectly pack your suitcase. I can somewhat see the creative approach behind it, especially during the underwater sequence, but honestly story-wise it didn't do much for me and the character animation wasn't to my liking either. The funeral ending felt rushed in and while the parallel to earlier wasn't bad really, it also did never become an emotional watch for me despite my own paternal background that really was perfect for liking this film and feeling a lot while watching it. But somehow for me it just didn't work out and so I have to give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended unless you are an Oscar completionist.

Perfectly subdued (TOTAL SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 22 September 2019]

The short animation Negative Space is primarily about the memories of a man about his father. As he grew up, the boy supported his father's passion for efficient packing of his suitcase, even noting his father's positive feedback on his son's packing as a high point. There is not too much more to the film than this, but it delivers this coldly observational approach really well, and produces a significant emotional impact in the end.

The animation is clever, creative, but not showy or distracting in what it does. It has nice transitions, clever touches, and is visually easy to watch. The voicework is subdued, restrained, and all the better for it. The writing makes it work so well though, and I liked that the final line cast the whole film in a different light, and liked that the narrator was probably not supposed to fully understand what they meant as they relayed it. To the viewer though, the comment on "wasted space" carried so much weight when we think back across the silent interactions, the distance, and the focus on "leaving" that the boy and his father had - a lot of impact in those final words and it really worked in how it caught me offguard due to the other general tone of the film.

Well worth seeing, even though I somewhat spoiled the strong ending here.

cold poetry

[Kirpianuscus · 17 August 2019]

A film about relation son-father. Simple, touching, cold, precise. In same measure, a diagnosis about everyday relations from near reality and a portrait of the love in special form. For a boy- a great movie. For the subtle way to translate in image profound, defining truths. A boy, a too busy father, a suitcase and the funeral of the parent. A terrible, poetic last observation of the son. And the image of car-zipper on a huge suitcase as reflection of wise manner to give a profound message.