Danny Boy (I) (2010) User Reviews

A nice stop-motion short ruined by a tasteless joke

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 12 September 2023]

A stylish absurd comedy done in stop-motion, set in a world where humans have no heads, yet somehow still have a (somewhat) functional society.

While I don't know what was the message here, I still found it to be an interesting short mostly due its gorgeous visual style. However...

Seriously, what's up with that absolutely gratuitous 9/11 reference at the very end? What was its purpose? Was it merely included for shock value?

It added nothing, and honestly it feel made in poor taste. And I'm not even from the United States, but that was frankly awkward, lessening the twisted, yet emotional conclusion for a cheap offensive joke.

7/10.

a parable

[Kirpianuscus · 28 May 2019]

An inspired parable. Seductive for lovely animation and powerful message. A city of beheadet people. A poet. A love story. The sacrifice. And the reference to september 11 . Well crafted and impressive because it is a ball of memories. For a Central European, all is familiar. as symbol of dictatorship, as story of lonely resistence or as image of fundamental compromise. Short, a great, bitter short animation. As reflection of near reality or just as warning.

A Delightfully Dark Allegory

[TheSilentCrow-1 · 9/10 · 26 April 2016]

This review contains spoilers, so read at your own risk:

In this little film we enter the world of the headless inhabitants by observing a city in chaos, a chaos that is due to both regular foolish human behavior and the headless lifestyle the citizens must lead. The main character has a head and thus can see all the foolish behaviors of those around him. Despite the fact he possesses sight he does not seem quite happy with being able to see all the wickedness and foolishness. Eventually he happens upon a headless female that he falls in love with. She discovers he has a head and runs away in fear. He ponders this for a bit and decides to cut off his head with his homemade guillotine. Once he is headless he stumbles out of his home in search of the one he loves. He finds her and they stroll off happily together into the distance just as a plane flies into one of the twin tower buildings in the distance.

The plot is dark and very well structured with symbolism galore. The headless people are symbols of willful ignorance. They weren't always headless since the world is made for those with heads and sight. The main character has a head and is a symbol for rationality and knowledge. While everyone around him is blissfully ignorant to the horrors that are occurring around them he sees it all and wishes for the same ignorance in order to be happy, even though it comes at the cost of his knowledge. So at the end we see him blissfully, willfully ignorant to the catastrophe that is happening. He was the only one that could have seen it, could have warned others of it, but instead he chose the route of ignorance and blindness. Knowledge is sadness, knowledge is tragic, but knowledge is power and progress as well. While getting rid of it may aid in self happiness, to do so isn't beneficial to anyone else and can in fact be dangerous and harmful. This film is quite the commentary on modern human life and how we all choose to cherry pick what we pay attention to and what we don't.

Plot aside, the animation was amazing. The world is in black and white and gray (which is more symbolism). The characters are puppets, their movements flow smoothly. The lighting is quite exceptional even though it appears simply produced from a few lights/lamps. Over all the animation and filming were both fantastic. Couple the filming with the plot and we see quite the interesting, detailed, different story.

This is definitely a short film to watch a couple times over, it does not disappoint and you'll see something new here and there if you watch it more than once.

Terrible central message despite the original OK idea – cemented by a tasteless 9/11 reference

[bob the moo · 4 February 2014]

What am I to make of this film – one that has such a weird concept and such very distinctive content that it is hard not to assume there is a message in here, specifically when some of the film is such a heavy reference to certain things. Anyway, quick plot. We are in an urban area with buildings and cobbled streets and a populace without heads – how long they have been like this we don't know but they are trying to live normal lives despite not having heads, causing problems for driving and walking without eyes and eating without mouths. Anyway, there is one young man who has a head who observes all this. He is in a relationship although maybe it will not work out as he is so different. Meanwhile he has plans to change things. Finally (and here start the spoilers) he climbs into his home made guillotine, removes his head and is accepted by his beloved – they walk off into the sunset while a sightless pilot in a plane flies directly into one of two tall (towering, one might say) buildings in the background. And no I'm not making this stuff up.

The film has everyone with no heads, but the world is built for those with heads so it is clear they have all lost their heads – an obvious thing but here we are. So we then take from this that title character Danny is the sane one in a world gone mad – he still has all his senses and he can perceive the world in a much better way than others. He sees a lot of death and bad things occurring as a result of these people who have lost their heads. Indeed, the film closes with an image of people who have totally lost their heads – as a plane flies directly into one of two tower blocks, hitting roughly the same spot as the first plane on 11 September 2001 and exploding upwards in the same way. So we take the meaning although the use of 9/11 imagery is in poor taste and unnecessary to back up what was an already labored point.

Anyway, so with all this in mind, the film uses its main character to make the conclusion that, although the saying is (cooler) "heads will prevail", our Danny decides to join them so that he can be senseless in some ways but at least fit in with the crowd and get to be with his partner. It is a depressing message and yet it is delivered with a comic tone and cheerful acceptance that really doesn't ring true. The animation and the idea is fine and I did enjoy the delivery but the central message and the manner in which it is made is really bad – it also doesn't help that the "join them" message is finalized as a positive thing, just as the plane hits the tower which again is such a clear and deliberate visual thing that it is hard to think that I am just misunderstanding it.

Maybe I completely misread this film – at least I really hope I did otherwise it is a terrible message delivered in a tasteless and clunkingly obvious fashion.