Really Surprised!

A Major Disappointment

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I was wondering what they could possibly fit into a 6 minute movie. I watched it and found out that it's about a 6 foot tall autistic kid who walks to the store and buys a snack and a drink. Sound pretty boring? It is. I suppose I could watch it over and over again and try to analyze it like some other people would do, but quite frankly, I couldn't care less. The only thing good about it was the animation, which was amazing. This is something for pot heads to watch or for people who are tripping. I mean, I was sober when I watched it and it was still tripping me out. And the nonsense babbling of that autistic kid just adds to the trip-out factor.

Two guys are walking the street and decide to go for a drink and some sweets. One of the guys is autistic - rambling and babbling and obsessively filling his cup with a little bit of drink from each dispensers. The other guy follows him chatting about what he likes and trying to get to grips with who the fellow is. I came to this film not sure what it was about and was surprised by how short it was. In terms of substance it is apparent that the focus here is a guy who has some sort of obsessive compulsion as he repeats trailers he saw, phrases he has heard and seems to repeat rituals on a daily (or more) basis. The film never really probes deeper than just showing us that this is who he is and deeper stuff is only touched on by an unanswered line of dialogue that runs over the end credits (is it true you locked yourself in the bathroom to stop yourself killing your brother?).In this way I was rather left in the cold by the film because it didn't do anything with the subject other than really show him – although whether or not this is a weakness I suppose depends on your preconceptions prior to seeing the film. Despite being a little let down by this aspect of it I did think that the animation was worth seeing the film for. I'm pretty ignorant of technical names and so on but this appeared to be the same 'drawing over digital frames' technique that has recently been used in the film Waking Life. It is not as clean and clear as in that film but it has more imagination, using extremes at times or other times just seeming to animate what is there and not add anything. This makes it interesting and impressive but, for me, not quite enough to really cover the lack of substance.Overall this is an interesting film but not one that really won me over. It was all over too quickly so that, just as I started to get a grip on who the characters involved were, they were gone. The animation makes up for it and bit and is impressive and imaginative but many other viewers might feel that the dialogue could have been more telling than it was, acting to add substances to the visual experience.

Snack and Drink is the a mini-documentary about a 13-year-old 6 foot tall autistic boy, and the processes he goes through when going to a local 7/11 to get some Nerds and a Double Gulp. Those who have scene the film Waking Life (2001) will immediately recognize the idiosyncratic animation-over-live-action technique employed in both films. The images are often humorous and often surreal, but, in the end, we are handed a neat little package that shows just one instance from a person's life we may not normally see. This experiment in expansion is further enhanced by the colorful and unconventional visuals. The boy is the main speaker, and his unrehearsed dialog can be funny and provoking. This short film is well worth the time of anyone who stumbles across it. And who can forget the darkly lingering last words, "Is it true you once tried to kill your brother?" before the ABC-123-like credits swarm the screen.Snack and Drink (1999) can be found on the Waking Life (2001) DVD and on the resfest 2000 DVD.