In this clever satire of toxic men, a cartoon pickup artist is violently torn apart by the women he targets, seen only through his own one-sided, ridiculously misogynistic point of view. Don Hertzfeldt's first student film, he plays the part of a mentally unwell animator who's losing his grip within his own movie; an idea he'd later revisit in other early "meta" shorts "Genre" and "Rejected". Despite being produced at the age of 18 and not intended for exhibition, HBO named it "The World's Funniest Cartoon" in 1998.
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Best movie of this year hands down!
Very Cool!!!
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
The animated films from Don Hertzfeldt are very simply drawn--with stick figures and only in black and white (except when he occasionally tosses in some blood). So if you're looking for brilliant art, this certainly isn't a short film for you. However, where his films do excel is at being both funny and totally bizarre. Because they are so weird, they are certainly not for all tastes but are great for just the right off-kilter type of person.This film is broken down into many little vignettes. In each, an innocent guy comes up to a lady and says something very innocuous. And in each case, the lady turns psycho and does something absolutely violent and horrible in return. I'm sure it's possibly trying to say something profound about male/female communication, but I really liked it for the insane reactions. They were so far over the top that they made me laugh again and again. Give it a watch and see if you, too, are the sort of person who might appreciate the oddness of Don Hertzfeldt.
I had rarely laughed so hard at animated violence until I watched Don Hertzfeld's work, and Ah, L'Amour is no exception. If you have ever known anyone who claims a potential significant other ripped out their heart and performed any of a series of mutilations upon it, you will be delighted to watch as these are acted out literally rather than figuratively. This brief yet cynical look at getting the time of day (literally) from a female rings especially true with most college-age males. The final interaction of the main character with a female is perhaps the most bitter comment on the subject ever dared to be stated explicitly. A few women may be offended at this cynical view, but I think most of us can relate and appreciate this bluntly honest view of the way some play the game of love.
The very best thing about Hertzfeldt is his original vision of animated stick figures.This is the very first and has many of the elements that make some of his subsequent work worthy. What's missing is the overt self-reference. The character is clearly himself, but in other works, the drawer is explicit, and often the paper as well.But still funny, if you are a guy. The very same theme occurs in his "rejected" collection where the entire business world rejects the work. But that latter effort is much more clever in that it exploits his OTHER big idea (past the stick figures) the self- reference in the world, not the character.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
"Ah, l'amour" is the ultimate animated slice-of-life comedy of an average male desperately seeking love from the opposite sex. Along his two minute quest he is tortured, maimed, and killed several times, simply for trying to be friendly-- the most unnervingly truthful metaphors of rejection that I have ever witnessed. While this creative, minimalist animation is laugh-out-loud funny, it is also painfully accurate. Personally, I couldn't help but to empathize with the little guy.
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