A Year in Shorts Day 160: "Blackfly"

If there’s one thing I know absolutely nothing about, it’s Canadian folk music. And I’m willing to bet you don’t know much about it either. But today we’re going to learn a little more, as Wade Hemsworth’s popular 1949 song “The Black Fly Song” served as the basis for the less popular 1991 short Blackfly. And I hope you found that fun fact interesting, because that’s about as interesting as it gets with this film.


(via TV Tropes)


Both the short film and the song it's based on tell the story of a surveyor sent to North Ontario, only to be beset upon by a band of ravenous flies. (In case you couldn't guess from the premise, this is another short produced by the National Film Board of Canada.) Throughout the short we watch the surveyor resort to drastic and desperate measures to avoid them while also watching the flies doing random things one doesn't expect flies to do. (Flies doing a chorus line? Why I never!) All of this is set to a recording of the song (sort of like another NFBC short, The Cat Came Back), which is pleasant to listen to and only mildly annoying. It is, in my opinion, a fairly thin premise for a short, playing more like someone tried and failed miserably at turning a Far Side cartoon into a movie. But I suppose it passes quickly enough. Maybe you'll find more to like about it than I did!




There are a fair amount of shorts like this out there, and if I'm honest they very rarely work for me. There's never anything particularly wrong with them, they're just not very fun to watch. The gags here are pretty simplistic and the animation isn't much to look at. It's intentionally simplistic, yes, but not in a way I find interesting or engaging. In fact that pretty much sums up this short. It's perfectly serviceable for what it is, but what it is doesn't amount to much. It's not much to watch, not much to write about, and, unfortunately for you, not much to read about either.


Keep up with the Oscar Baiting here on Letterboxd!


The Great Oscar Baiter is a not-for-profit work of criticism. All images herein are property of their respective owners and are protected under Fair Use.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Song of the Week #15: "Take My Breath Away"

Image
I’ll put myself on a consistent schedule for these things one day, I promise. In my defense, there are a lot of movies to catch up on, and isn’t that what Oscar Baiting is all about? For instance- until recently, I’d never seen the original Top Gun! But with Top Gun: Maverick holding its spot as the biggest hit of the year (probably only to be dethroned by Black Panther or Avatar ) and even potentially soaring into the obligatory crowd pleaser Best Picture slot, I figured it was time to see where things began. Because while the Oscars Top Gun: Maverick may win have yet to be decided, the first Top Gun only went home with one- for the love theme, “Take My Breath Away.” (via Wikipedia) Love themes for films have gone a bit out of style these days, although for a long time it seemed to be a surefire way to nab a Best Song nomination. Seriously, look through the Wikipedia article and count how many times you see "Title Seemingly Chosen at Random (Love Theme from Movie You Didn...
Read more

Song of the Week #6: "The Ballad of High Noon"

Image
I was finally able to catch Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast this weekend, and I have to say it certainly lived up to the hype. There’s a lot to love about this movie, from the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, the exquisite performances from both the seasoned veterans and newcomers in the cast, to a script that’s brimming with heart and humor. But one aspect of the film I don’t see a lot of people mention is the way it incorporates footage from other films- most notably Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon, using not only a scene from the movie itself but scoring two pivotal scenes with the film’s theme song, the aptly-named (and Oscar-winning) “The Ballad of High Noon.” It was a bold choice to be sure, but who could blame Branagh? It’s a great movie, and a great song- and the subject for today’s installment in Song of the Week. (via Wikipedia) For those of you haven't seen High Noon... well, you really should get on that, it's a classic! Aside from being a taut, tightly edited thril...
Read more

Song of the Week #14- "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

Image
I was watching Belfast with my friend last week, and- like all great films- it raised a lot of questions. Questions like, “Hey, remember the last time I watched Belfast and was inspired to write a blog post because of it ?” and “Hey, why haven’t I written anything Oscar Bait related in a while?” Well, luckily for all of us “The Ballad of High Noon” wasn’t the only Oscar-nominated song featured in Belfast. Unluckily for us, that other song just happens to be “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” (via Wikipedia) Readers of this blog will hopefully remember that I love a good movie musical. Sadly, those were few and far between in the 1960s. Oh sure, movie musicals certainly had a brief resurgence in those days. Many of them were big hits, both critically and commercially. Hell, Best Picture went to a musical on four separate occasions in that decade! But how many of them were actually any good? Not a lot. Oh sure, The Music Man is great fun and Mary Poppins is a classic. But far too many mu...
Read more