THE REAL 'OLD MAN AND THE SEA'

One of my recent blog posts poked fun at Hollywood and the notion of making Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" today. It was hilarious. Filled with explosions, Will Smith and all that Michael Bay jazz. Sad, but true.

Now, in all seriousness, check out this striking and gorgeous rendition of Papa H's classic Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning novella in Alexandr Petrov's version of the story.

Petrov's style is striking, gorgeous and distinctly his own. Unique. His process? He paints on glass, which yields a soft flow to his images and allows him to perfectly capture the lyricism of Hemingway's poetic tale. Made in 1999, the centennial of Hemingway's birth, director Aleksandr Petrov released the film, created from 29,000 hand-painted images. It was initiated in 1995 after Petrov's first meeting with Productions Pascal Blais, a Canadian animation company.

It received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Grab some java ... sit back and enjoy something fucking brilliant.

PART ONE


PART TWO


SOME COMMENTARY