Lily and Jim

Last updated
Lily and Jim
Directed by Don Hertzfeldt
Written byDon Hertzfeldt
Produced byDon Hertzfeldt
CinematographyAimée R. Haeussler
Edited byBrian Hamblin
Release date
  • 1997 (1997)
Running time
13 minutes

Lily and Jim (1997) is a 16mm animated short film by Don Hertzfeldt. It is Hertzfeldt's third student film from UC Santa Barbara, for which he single-handedly animated over 10,000 drawings. In the film, an awkward blind date between a hopeless couple goes from very bad to much worse. Voice actors Robert May (Jim) and Karin Anger (Lily) improvised a number of their dialogues. The films closing credits feature instrumental piano music called "Moving Thirds" by singer-songwriter Beth Waters.

Contents

The movie eventually received 25 film festival awards, including Grand Prizes from the New Orleans Film Festival and the USA Film Festival.

In 1998, it was shown on an episode of MTV's Cartoon Sushi.

Summary

Lily and Jim meet each other on a blind date. As the story progresses, they each address the camera directly with their own opinions about the date in black-and-white cutaways. They decide to go to a nondescript restaurant, but find it very hard to relate to each other, or even strike up a simple conversation. They appear to have little in common, and are both awkward and nervous throughout the evening. After dinner, they spend another uneasy moment under a streetlamp, before deciding to go back to Lily's apartment to share coffee. Jim explains to the audience that he is extremely allergic to coffee, but does not tell Lily since he does not want to interrupt the date. Finding nothing to do at the apartment, and missing their chance at a kiss, Lily and Jim decide to watch television. However, the TV only shows various surreal images, so they turn it off. Finally, Jim's coffee allergy takes hold of him and the date comes to an uncomfortable end.

On DVD

In 2005, the original 16mm negative was digitally restored and remastered for the first time, for release on the extensive "Bitter Films Volume 1" DVD compilation of Hertzfeldt's 1995-2005 films. Special features created for Lily and Jim include Hertzfeldt's original production sketches and notes, as well as a 15-minute animatic consisting of humorous audio outtakes and unused improvisational dialogue from the original 1996-97 session tapes. The original voice actors were also reunited after 9 years to do a retrospective audio commentary.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dubbing</span> Post-production process used in filmmaking and video production

Dubbing is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings (doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sound to create the finished soundtrack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voice acting</span> Performing voice-overs to represent a character or provide information

Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent. Voice acting is recognized as a specialized dramatic profession in the United Kingdom, primarily due to BBC broadcasts of radio drama production.

Ah, L'Amour (1995) is Don Hertzfeldt's first 16mm student animated short film, completed at the age of 18 at UC Santa Barbara. Though produced for a beginning film class and never meant to be exhibited, the short had a long life at animation festivals, launching Hertzfeldt into cult status at a young age. In 1998, the short won the Grand Prize Award for "World's Funniest Cartoon" from the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Buffay</span> Fictional character from the American sitcom Friends

Phoebe Buffay is one of the six main characters from the American television sitcom, Friends. She was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and portrayed by actress Lisa Kudrow.

<i>Rejected</i> 2000 film by Don Hertzfeldt

Rejected is a 2000 animated surrealist short comedy film directed by Don Hertzfeldt that was released in 2000. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film the following year at the 73rd Academy Awards, and received 27 awards from film festivals around the world.

<i>The Brave Little Toaster</i> 1987 animated film directed by Jerry Rees

The Brave Little Toaster is a 1987 American independent animated musical adventure drama film directed by Jerry Rees. It is based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film stars Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, and Thurl Ravenscroft, with Wayne Kaatz, Colette Savage, Phil Hartman, Joe Ranft, and Jim Jackman in supporting roles. It is set in a world where domestic appliances and other consumer electronics come to life, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans. The story focuses on five anthropomorphic household appliances, which include a toaster, a lamp stand, a blanket, a radio and a vacuum cleaner, who go on a quest to search for their owner.

<i>Billys Balloon</i> 1998 film by Don Hertzfeldt

Billy's Balloon is a 16 mm animated short by Don Hertzfeldt. It was his 4th and final student film at UC Santa Barbara. Similar to his other cartoons, he utilizes a minimalist stick-figure technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Awards</span> Film award

The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation, the award has been given to individual works since 1992.

<i>Free Jimmy</i> 2006 film

Free Jimmy is a 2006 adult animated comedy film first released in Norwegian in 2006, and later in English in 2008. The film was written and directed by acclaimed Norwegian subculture comic book artist Christopher Nielsen and features a number of characters from Nielsen's dark humor-laden comic books. The plot is an adult-oriented black comedy in which different groups of varying nationalities, and motives, all attempt to find a wayward and drug-addicted elephant in the Norwegian wilderness before the others do. The film explores a wide number of themes including addiction, drug abuse, freedom, nature, tragedy, crime, materialism, urban decay, animal cruelty and animal rights.

<i>Rec</i> (manga) Japanese manga series

Rec is a Japanese manga series by Q-Tarō Hanamizawa. It was serialized by Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X from November 2002 to March 2013, with its chapters collected in sixteen tankōbon volumes. The story follows the relationship between Fumihiko Matsumaru, a salaryman, and Aka Onda, an aspiring voice actress. A nine-episode anime adaptation by Shaft aired between February and March 2006; an original video animation episode was also produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Elliot</span> Australian stop-motion animation writer, director and producer

Adam Elliot is an Australian stop-motion animation writer, director and producer based in Melbourne, Australia. His five films have collectively participated in over seven hundred film festivals and have received over one hundred awards, including an Academy Award for Harvie Krumpet and five Annecy Cristals. Elliot calls himself an auteur filmmaker and all of his films have a bittersweet nature to them. He does not engage with commercial work and works exclusively on his own film projects. Based loosely on his family and friends, Elliot calls each of his works a Clayography – clay animated biography. Each film takes up to five years to complete. He is noted for his use of traditional 'in-camera' techniques, which means every prop set and character is a 'real' miniature handcrafted object. Elliot does not use digital additions or computer generated imagery to enhance his visual aesthetic. His company, Adam Elliot Clayographies, produces the films and Elliot's work practices adhere to the French auteur methodology. Each film has been voiced by notable actors including, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Geoffrey Rush, Eric Bana, William McInnes, Barry Humphries and John Flaus. Elliot is also a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and in 1999 was awarded The Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria.

<i>Sparsh</i> (film) 1980 film by Sai Paranjpye

Sparsh (transl. Touch) is a 1980 Indian Hindi feature film directed by Sai Paranjpye. It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi playing the characters of a visually impaired principal and a sighted teacher in a school for the blind, where they fall in love though soon their complexes tag along and they struggle to get past them to reconnect with the "touch" of love. The film remains most memorable for the subtle acting of its leads, plus the handling of the issue of relationships with the visually disabled, revealing the emotional and perception divide between the worlds of the "blind" and the "sighted", epitomized by the characters. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. However, the film's release was delayed by almost 4 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Bones</span> Fictional character in the 1883 novel Treasure Island

Billy Bones is a fictional character appearing in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island.

<i>Treasure Island</i> (1988 film) 1988 Soviet cartoon film

Treasure Island is a Soviet two-part live-action/animated adventure comedy television film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883). It was created by order of the USSR's state television company by the studio Kievnauchfilm. It is mostly traditional animation with some live action sequences, which are largely but not entirely separate.

<i>Genre</i> (1996 film) 1996 film

Genre is a 1996 animated meta-comedy short film by animator Don Hertzfeldt, his second 16mm student film, produced at the age of 19.

The Meaning of Life is a 35mm animated short film, written and directed by Don Hertzfeldt in 2005. The twelve-minute film is the result of almost four years of production and tens of thousands of drawings, single-handedly paper animated and photographed by Hertzfeldt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hertzfeldt</span> American animator

Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films It's Such a Beautiful Day, the World of Tomorrow series, and Rejected. In 2014, his work appeared on The Simpsons. Eight of his short films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Eriksen</span> Fictional character on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother

Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Jason Segel. Series co-creator Craig Thomas explained that he based Marshall and Lily on himself and his wife Rebecca.

<i>Its Such a Beautiful Day</i> (film) 2012 animated feature film directed by Don Hertzfeldt

It's Such a Beautiful Day is a 2012 American experimental adult animated drama film directed, written, animated, photographed, produced and narrated by Don Hertzfeldt.

<i>World of Tomorrow</i> (film) 2015 American animated short film

World of Tomorrow is an avant-garde animated science fiction short film series written, directed, produced, animated, and edited by Don Hertzfeldt. The series began with World of Tomorrow (2015), which was followed by World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts (2017) and World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime (2020).