A Film That Resonated With Me After My Family Left: 'La Maison en Petits Cubes'

One day after the Obon holiday, my wife and children left the house.
Looking back on the time since then, there is a film that strangely resonates with me.
That film is the short animated movie 'La Maison en Petits Cubes'.

About 'La Maison en Petits Cubes'

Released in 2008, this is a 12-minute short animated film directed by Kunio Kato. It gained
worldwide attention after winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 81st Academy Awards.

The setting is a city that is gradually being submerged by water.
The protagonist, an old man, lives alone, building his house higher and higher like 'building blocks' every time the sea level rises.

One day, after dropping his cherished pipe into the water, the old man puts on a diving suit and dives to the bottom.
What he finds there are fragments of
his past life and memories of his family. As the old man visits the
'layers of the house' that have sunk, he begins to reminisce about his life
.

Highlights and Message

There is no dialogue in this work; the story is woven solely through visuals and music.
The music by Kenji Kondo and the narration by Masami Nagasawa quietly add color to the film.

• The structure of stacking the house like 'building blocks' is truly a symbol of life and family memories.

• The rising water level allegorically depicts how the past gradually sinks away.

• The soft, pencil-drawing-like touch and pale colors evoke a sense of nostalgia and poignancy.

Eventually, the old man quietly toasts alone with a wine glass he picked up.
That image seems to convey the message of 'living on while holding onto what has been lost.'

What I Felt

Watching 'La Maison en Petits Cubes', I felt that there were many parts that overlapped with my own life and memories.
The

'quiet life' left behind after my family departed and the 'piled-up memories.' Perhaps that is a universal theme for everyone.

There are things we lose at various points in life. Even so, we are here now because of those memories.

It was a memorable work that made me think about such things.

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