This Russian short film is about a woman who works at a lavatory and has to clean toilets. Despite this unpleasant task, she is always in a good mood and lives her dream of being a famous figure skater. I really liked how they used the tiny toilet chambers in this scene as if they were audience members from the crowd cheering for her. They also used them nicely in the end when all the people come out to see what's happening. The woman gets flowers repeatedly, so somebody seems to have a crush on her, but sadly he is too shy and she does not manage to find out which of her guests is actually the one giving her flowers. Another thing I liked about these 10 minutes is that everything is black-and-white except the flowers. It emphasized nicely what they mean to her. The "Happy Woman" reference was smart as well. The animation is pretty simple, but you can see that there is some heart in it. And in the end, it's a feel-good tale. Good job from the Academy nominating this one. I still believe the Japanese winner is better, but "Lavatory Lovestory" certainly deserves the nomination. It's also nice to see that writer and director Konstantin Bronzit finally made another short movie recently, after it looked like he stopped with film after his Academy Award. This short film certainly proves that he has decent talent and I hope he will make many more films. Recommended. Oh and don't worry if you can't speak Russian. There is no dialog in here.
6 Reviews
A very surprising Oscar-nominee
planktonrules16 February 2009
LAVATORY LOVE STORY is a Russian cartoon about a lonely lady who is an attendant in a public bathroom. While it is a relatively common practice in Europe, many Americans might be surprised to see people pay to enter a toilet as well as having someone of the opposite sex cleaning the restroom. Also, it's interesting to note that everything is written in English--not Russian.
Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.
LAVATORY LOVE STORY is the most surprising of the nominees. That's because usually the animated films are extraordinary when it comes to the artwork, yet this film has very, very simple animation--so simple I am surprised it received the nomination. By comparison, last year's Russian nominee (MY LOVE) was like a moving impressionist painting and LAVATORY LOVE STORY consists of simple black and white drawings. To the film's credit, despite having ordinary artwork, the story is very enjoyable. Deep? No. But very cute and pleasant. But, once again, not special enough, in my opinion, to merit a nomination--especially when some of the commended films were clearly better.
Because of all these factors, I consider this film to be the definite "dark horse" of the five nominees--with what appears to be the least chance of taking the award. Still, it's enjoyable and worth seeing.
UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but saw the film as a strong contender.
Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.
LAVATORY LOVE STORY is the most surprising of the nominees. That's because usually the animated films are extraordinary when it comes to the artwork, yet this film has very, very simple animation--so simple I am surprised it received the nomination. By comparison, last year's Russian nominee (MY LOVE) was like a moving impressionist painting and LAVATORY LOVE STORY consists of simple black and white drawings. To the film's credit, despite having ordinary artwork, the story is very enjoyable. Deep? No. But very cute and pleasant. But, once again, not special enough, in my opinion, to merit a nomination--especially when some of the commended films were clearly better.
Because of all these factors, I consider this film to be the definite "dark horse" of the five nominees--with what appears to be the least chance of taking the award. Still, it's enjoyable and worth seeing.
UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but saw the film as a strong contender.
Nearly Unrequited
Hitchcoc30 October 2021
A woman who collects change at a pay as you go lavatory suddenly has flowers put in her jar. The movie shows her efforts to discover who is trying to alleviate her humdrum lonely existence. The animation is all simple line drawings and it works pretty well.
Awkward moments in a private space
Polaris_DiB11 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
All of the animated short films nominated for the Oscars this year were silent, and two of them were hand-drawn. This latter one, "Lavatory Lovestory" is the least complicated film, though certainly not the least effective. It consists entirely of line drawings from certain perspectives and relies on very little to get the emotion and story across. True to the nature of animation, where basically anything can happen, the frames and "camera movements" are the most interesting because of the way space shifts with regular and spaced lines.
As for the story, it's very cute. A frumpy female bathroom attendant has a secret admirer, but who? The reveal isn't all that surprising, but it allows a lot of time for her to fall into awkward situations involving a relatively private space.
Honestly, it was good, but kind of forgettable in the light of some of the other nominees. But it's worth checking out, nonetheless.
As for the story, it's very cute. A frumpy female bathroom attendant has a secret admirer, but who? The reveal isn't all that surprising, but it allows a lot of time for her to fall into awkward situations involving a relatively private space.
Honestly, it was good, but kind of forgettable in the light of some of the other nominees. But it's worth checking out, nonetheless.
Lavatory-Lovestory is a quite entertaining Russian animated short that just got an Oscar nomination
tavm26 January 2009
I just found this Oscar-nominated short animated film on YouTube as linked from Mayerson on Animation. Originally from Russia, Lavatory-Lovestory is a funny and touching tale of a woman in a box office-where men going to the restrooms put coins in the former mayonnaise jar while on their way to relieve themselves-reads a newspaper called "Happy Woman" and sees picture after picture of romantic couples coupling and wishes she was in the same boat. She also cleans the restrooms while skating on brushes. When she puts the paper down one day, she finds flowers put in the money jar. When getting rid of said flowers, other ones appear when she gets back. It's at this point that this woman looks in both the restrooms and outside the terminal for the mysterious man...Like I said, this animated short was both touching and humorous and the line-drawings on white background adds an entertainingly distinct touch to the proceedings. Nothing more to say except that I very much highly recommend this quite entertaining Russian animated short Lovatory-Lovestory!
A love story in a very unusual place
llltdesq19 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead:
This short, which is without dialog, is a very sweet, charming, quite romantic piece about a lavatory attendant bored with life, lonely and daydreaming about a romance. She reads her paper, drinks her tea, collects the fees for the use of the facilities and does her work.
Someone anonymously starts leaving flowers in her fee jar and she begins trying to figure out just who it is, often going to absurd lengths to do so. One of the funniest aspects to this short is the woman's imaginative approach to doing things.
She eventually finds out who's leaving the flowers (the sole colors in the short are the blue, yellow and red flowers) and the short ends most delightfully.
I haven't found this in print anywhere, but it can be seen online and is well worth searching out. Most recommended.
This short, which is without dialog, is a very sweet, charming, quite romantic piece about a lavatory attendant bored with life, lonely and daydreaming about a romance. She reads her paper, drinks her tea, collects the fees for the use of the facilities and does her work.
Someone anonymously starts leaving flowers in her fee jar and she begins trying to figure out just who it is, often going to absurd lengths to do so. One of the funniest aspects to this short is the woman's imaginative approach to doing things.
She eventually finds out who's leaving the flowers (the sole colors in the short are the blue, yellow and red flowers) and the short ends most delightfully.
I haven't found this in print anywhere, but it can be seen online and is well worth searching out. Most recommended.
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