User Reviews

Just saw this at RESFEST 10 at the NFT in London and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A man bites off his tongue and, once it has been revived by nuclear waste. it proceeds to bring mayhem and destruction to town. And then ? I'll say no more. My only criticism is that it was perhaps a little too long and could have been more ruthlessly edited. There were sections where the film lost a little impetus. But the animation was good quality, the story original and the visual gags were brilliant. Particular highlights were the cat fishing for squirrels - tremendous playing around with perception and great cunning from the cat - and the taxi journey - winningly peculiar and nonsensical. It was a pleasure to be able to see a film like this, alongside other innovative and/or quirky shorts. I would really like to see some more by this director.

A man lives in a town he hates and his only friend is his cat. One day, in a fit of rage he accidentally bites off his own tongue and then breaks his arms. He rushes to hospital to get patched up, while his cat slips out to the park to kill some squirrels. Neither of them though, could have imagined how the day would end.

Those of us used to adult-swim's weird and (mostly) wonderful collection of animated series might greet Tongues and Taxis with a little bit of snobbery as it is in this vein but not quite as good. The plot of the short is imaginative and, although it is a bit longer than the material can sustain, it does produce some great moments. It is interesting enough as it develops a daft plot from start to finish although it does help to be in the mindset for this and not be expecting a serious short film (obviously). The animation is good considering it is a student film of sorts, with some basic parts but mostly all driven by imagination and personal touch.

The cat is of course the highlight and the park scene is amusing and clever. The rest of the short is variable and some bits are imaginative (the final tongue attack) while others needed work (the man himself is not as strong a character as I would have liked)). Overall though, an amusing, rough and ready animation that gets by thanks to good animation, some strong moments and a general air of imagination.