Watch: Animated Short ‘The Cocoon’ About a Man Trapped in a Room
by Alex Billington
May 10, 2024
Source: YouTube
How do you find your way out of a room with no doors? That’s the conundrum in this animated short film titled The Cocoon, made by Chinese-Jewish American filmmaker David Shen Miller. After playing at a few film festivals last year, Omeleto has debuted the short online for everyone to watch. In the metaphorical The Cocoon, a trapped man goes to extreme lengths to clean a dirty room – coming to a realization about what it really takes to confront his trapped dilemma. “This intriguing animated short operates on a metaphorical level, using animation’s inherent elasticity and freedom to explore deeply psychological terrain with a well-paced, compelling narrative.” The idea in this is interesting, though the animation isn’t top notch – it’s a bit shaggy and obvious at times. Nonetheless, it’s still an impactful little film. “He’s given himself a Sisyphean task, with no real solution in sight, despite all his efforts. But then, he finds a way to transform the mess and imperfection around him into something else entirely.” The Cocoon is only 9 minutes – give it a watch below.
Thanks to Omeleto for the tip on this. Intro via YouTube: “A man finds himself trapped inside a room, his feet muddied from the dirty floor. Unable to get out, he spots a broom nearby and tries to clean the dirty floor. He succeeds, perhaps thinking he will be freed, but then he realizes he has left dirty footprints from working to wipe away the old ones. Stuck in this paradox, the man attempts to solve the riddle he’s found himself in. He tries to clean his feet; he tries to find a way of walking on the wall instead. No matter what he does, the room will never become entirely clean… At his lowest point, though, he finds a way to solve his problem – and realizes perhaps it wasn’t such a problem in the first place.” The Cocoon is written, directed, and animated by filmmaker David Shen Miller – you can also find him on Twitter @DavidShenMiller. It’s produced by Andrew Seth Cohen and Ryan Kieffer of Confidential Creative. This initially premiered at the 2023 Dallas Film Festival last year. For more info visit YouTube. To view more shorts, click here. Thoughts?
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