Hello (I) (2003) User Reviews

Hand Drawings Are Excellent

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 3 September 2008]

Yes, it's a nice, sentimental "love story" with inanimate objects playing the lead roles: We have the shy portable tape player trying to get the attention of the cute, female little CD boom box. Help from an old Victrola (gramophone?) makes the two young ones connect. Basically, that's it.

However, what I liked best was the art work in here. I thought it was just fascinating.

The hand ink-like drawings were detailed and the color schemes were great, usually just two colors in the scenes. It thought it far surpassed the story, which was okay but nothing special.

Cute

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 July 2008]

This is one of the animated shorts from THE ANIMATION SHOW: VOLUME 2. Most of the shorts in this DVD collection are rather poor because very few are funny and the emphasis is much more or art than entertainment in this second installment. For better films overall, see VOLUME 1.

While I don't think this film was as brilliant as some reviewers have stated, I would agree that it's one of the better films in this collection. However, be forewarned that the animation style and narrative are a bit odd! All the characters in this short are anthropomorphic radios, tape players, record players or digital music devices! A cassette boom box guy meets a digital lady but he hasn't got the right words. In this bizarre world, these characters cannot speak on their own but must pull the words from the music they play to communicate with each other. So he goes home and tries to piece together various bits and pieces of audiotape to talk to her. This fails miserably and it looks hopeless until he gets some help from an old-time Victrola.

As you'd correctly guess, this is a weird film...but also a charming one. Give it a view.

Very sweet

[Polaris_DiB · 8/10 · 5 November 2005]

This animated short is a little like the typical story of the guy who wants to meet the girl, but isn't sure if he is really good enough for her, and it's illustrated by the ever-changing world of technology.

The guy, in this case, is a cassette player that uses country music to express his feeling of forlorning, only in the privacy of his own room, not the girl's company (the girl in this case is a CD boombox with all the bells and whistles; the popular girl by all means). The guy just doesn't know what to do to express his desire to her, so he searches the help of an old record player, who lets him record the album of his dreams and throws away the country music.

It's an interesting way of telling the story, having the technology as representative of outward appearance and the music itself as the expressions inside that all three can share. It also has kind of an interesting little twist to it... when the cassette boy is playing the song for the girl, she accepts him by connecting her speakers into his headphone-jack, which is kind of a reverse-sex situation. This probably is representative of how technology and change through time has created a situation where penetration (dominance) is not really a guy's domain, and the guy's job in a heterosexual relationship is to attract the girl who holds all the cards. Very roll reversal situation neatly illustrated.

--PolarisDiB

An Endearing Animation About the Struggles of Love

[ShortoftheWeek · 10/10 · 16 October 2007]

An endearing animation about the struggles of love and self-expression. Hello's characters are created from common audio devices—forced to communicate with what technology they have. A bumbling, young cassette player fumbles with his tape deck as he hopelessly attempts to capture the attention of the cute, digital girl next door. His earnest persistence won me over.

The animation technique integrates traditional, hand-drawn 2D characters and textures in a 3D environment through a process referred to as 2.5D. Although coarsely integrated at times, the visuals do their job of telling the story without becoming a distraction.

This festival hit is Jonathon Nix's first short animated film. The Australian animator is currently developing the prequel—a feature-length animation titled The Missing Key. Hello was my personal favorite from the Animation Show 2 (2005), and I'm pleased to see it now find a home online.

Check out all our weekly reviews at ShortoftheWeek.com

Brilliant, touching, the reason why one likes movies

[mnneuhold · 18 July 2004]

I have seen "Hello" at the vienna independent short film festival. It was my clear favourite of the 20 or so films that it was shown with that night. The movie combines a high technical standard with a complete, well crafted story and a spirited idea that reflects so much in modern life. A young man lacks the words to approach a young, secure woman. He looks for advice from an older man and does indeed get advice. He is able to find the right words to get in touch with her. Only the young man is a tape deck, the young woman a CD Player and the old man a gramophone. Congratulations to its maker!

sweet and touching, even for the cynics in the audience

[kyrat · 9/10 · 11 March 2005]

Contains spoilers:

I usually hate sentimental tripe, but this film manages to avoid being banal. The cassette tape head is too shy (keeps fumbling while trying to insert a tape) to talk to the cd player head character. His old friend the gramaphone/record helps him find the way to express himself. It's just done perfectly. The right length of time, the way the music and technology are used/portrayed. Even for a cynic who hates sappy stuff, I found this to be a very cute short. I would highly recommend it. This was the best of all the animated shorts I saw as part of the MIke Judge & Don Hertzfeldt "The Animation Show" collection.

Very mediocre

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 14 April 2016]

"Hello" is a 7-minute Australian short film from more than a decade ago. Wriiter and director (and voice actor) is Jonathan Nix and he received some awards attention for his work here. i wonder why though. i do not think this film was a particularly creative achievement in terms of story, emotion or dramatic impact. Comedy is pretty much non-existent, so I won't mention that. Maybe the reason why I cannot appreciate this movie here is because I do not really like the animation style. But there are other aspects too. For example, for such a music-centered work, I find the actual music used in here fairly forgettable. So yeah, awards bodies and IMDb users got it wrong. This is a mediocre watch at best. Thumbs down.