1989-05-25
N/A
7 min
The setting is on a floating platform where a group of evenly and carefully placed men live. Each man is aware that the platform is not stable and in order not to fall to their deaths, they maintain a careful balance of weight to prevent the platform from tipping too far and cause them all to fall.
Anyone remember British clay animator Tony Hart and his "Morph" creation? Well these gents doing the balancing act here reminded me rather of a taller version of him. They must constantly change position to counter balance the pivoted platform on which they exist. In a rare moment of equilibrium, they start to fish and one catches what looks like a safe. Redistributing their weight accordingly, each have a go at evaluating the object and slowly discover it has a wind-up mechanism. When one of their number concludes it's of no value and wants to let it slide back into the abyss, a series of contretemps ensue resulting in a solution that seems hard to quite fathom! There's some meticulous planning gone into this and it's quite imaginatively played out as this wholly inanimate object sows it's own sort of discord. Mind you, it must have been quite a dull existence!
