When I first saw this image adorning the top of a This is Colossal post on some of National Geographic’s finest photo contest entries, I immediately thought of “La Luna.”
OK, that’s not quite fair. The thing I did first was gawk, because that picture is unbelievable. Next, I scanned through the rest of the pictures, which are nearly as amazing. (Watch out for the Great Grey owl photo bomb; it made me jump.) And then I thought of “La Luna.”
In his recent “In Praise of Pixar Short Films” piece, Steven Greydanus describes “La Luna” as “a weightless bit of Sendak-like whimsy about an unusual family business.” I particularly agree on the “whimsy” and “weightless” parts. It’s not “weightless” because the subject is without heft, but because it’s impossible to watch without feeling as though you are floating.
It’s particularly moving viewing for a father with sons – or anyone with children, I suspect — producing lots of jumbled emotions over the things we pass on to our kids, and the way that transfer takes place. It’s amazing how often that sort of thing happens without our even realizing that it’s happening.
In addition to praising the wonderful phenomenon of the Pixar Short, Steven’s article includes a particularly magical video clip that a) might be a bit of a spoiler if you haven’t seen the entire short — a situation that I implore you to remedy as soon as humanly possible, and that b) I can’t seem to find anywhere else. All I can find is this ol’ trailer. Which is just about the perfect way to round out the work week.
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