Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Plasmatize
“.........................................................” - ??????
This unnamed main character never utters a single word, nor does any other presence in House of Small Cubes’ short 12-minute runtime. And yet, through the power of strong, detailed visual storytelling, it tells a tale as rich and captivating as many titles 25 times its length.
In a world of continually rising water levels, a widowed elderly man must continue building layer upon layer onto his house peeking above the surrounding sea, while migrating all his belongings up to remain afloat, each layer growing more cramped than the last. He spends his remaining days alone, his past losses weighing him down, until one day, an event drives him to reminisce on what led him to that point, and find his perspective changing in th…
Read at the sourcePharuanUndearth
Unlike most of the other reviewers who pissed themselves stupid with some notion that this is a masterpiece of some metaphorical/philosophical greatness. It's not. There I said it, it is really a waste of 12ish minutes of your life. If you're a student of art definitely watch it, or if you're like me and "like art but nah not my bag", then don't waste your time.
Pros: Artsy, nothing else.
Cons: Bad music, no acceptable lines of speech, non-interesting or intriguing characters, story has little to no substance.
If there was some story attesting to how this world became flooded and why does it keep rising, or interaction between neighbors then there would be a story but there is none. Smoke, stare, eat, maybe build, brood about things that were, that really is the extent of this "anime".
Read at the sourceEzekiel_01
We have saying that Action speaks louder than words.
La Maison en Petits Cubes did that perfectly within just 12 minutes. You heard me right. The main character is not your ordinary main characters which mostly are young individuals that limit to the range of young adults towards mature adults. The main star of the show is an “Old Man”. He doesn’t have a name and it’s not important and it won’t affect what a masterpiece House Small Cubes is.
Everybody ask, what is so special about this anime anyway? What is so special about an old man in a 12 minute short film? And what is unique about children picture book art style? This is usually the question most people ask when they heard the title “House of Small Cubes”. This makes people get curious how this short film get this so much credit no…
Read at the sourceYuusa
"A picture is worth a thousand words", or in this case, an animation. The idea of a silent film in anime can be puzzling to some people, as anime is highly made up by its cast of voice actors, but Tsumiki no Ie goes beyond that to create a story drawn to look similar to a jour painting. Yet, twelve minutes is all it takes to dive into a the past of an old man and reflect on how short of a time people have to make the most of their lives.
What seemingly looks like a boring tale, takes a turn into the world of reminiscence to showcase the changing life that is simultaneously happening around us. In the world of the old man, his life is constantly facing a flood requiring him to create a new room for him to live in when the water reaches his current one. But with every new room created, a m…
Read at the sourceNecroticFury
When a message is made so short that only what is essential is communicated, is it a full message, or merely a reflection of the truth?
This anime is a masterpiece because it is more about the questions than the answers associated with them.
And because it is so short, there really isn't a reason not to watch this. Its simply a work of art that will force you to question your own life, and the meaning you build each and everyday you live it.
Did the man really appreciate things as they were happening? Or is he appreciating them now, now that they are memories? Its not to say that all should be cherished, as some of us have nothing worthwhile to look back on. But essentially, the message of this story is appreciation. This man had a family, that is all he ever had. And now that he is…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overview:
If you are feeling "artsy" and have 12 minutes to spare in your busy schedule, I would highly recommend checking out "House of Small Cubes". This was one of only 2 anime to ever win an Oscar. The other was Spirited Away in 2002. What is this anime and how did it win? I will try to explain.
Technique: A history lesson of the total silence symbolism genre of film.
WARNING!!! If you either don't care about the history of this film genre or already know the history, then please skip this next paragraph! Otherwise it will be boring!!!
The first thing you will notice about the story is that there is ZERO dialogue in the entire 12 minute run time! Telling a story entirely visually and through symbolism is a very difficult task, but if done correctly can be a truly moving and powerf…
Read at the sourceGridfire
This unique short film takes you on a diving tour through the memories of a widowed old man. Tsumiki no Ie is a metaphor for life. Each storey of the elderly man's submerged home represents a stage in his adult existence. As we descend into the depths of memories, we realise the ocean is not only the past, but that the swelling tide is the passage of time itself. It's a clever film for sure, but emotionally and intellectually vacant. Once the metaphorical trick reveals itself, the remainder of the film is predictable. That missing element of surprise would have separated a great short film from a gimmick. Its rich, one-of-a-kind storybook visual style lends it a stronger impression.
Read at the sourcegummyghost
This short masterpiece, La maison en petits cubes is so wonderfully breathtakingly beautiful I almost cried. No wonder it won an academy award. For a short with no dialogue it spoke so much in twelve minutes.
One thing I loved about La maison en petits cubes is the art, but beware its not for everyone. Why I loved the art so much is that it fit the story so well I couldn't imagine modern art for this or any different art for that matter.
The idea of a town under water and a old man living alone after everyone else had died or left the sunken town is amazing. I won't tell you the synopsis because it's already written, but after the old mans smoke pipe falls in his sunken house he retrieves it only to be blasted by memories and the beautiful soundtrack playing accompanying each tearful m…
Read at the sourcecentauro
Do you want to know how to create a just 12 minutes long masterpiece? Try to ask Kunio Kato, he may give you the answer.
This short movie is the proof that a 600 episodes series or a 3 hours long movie isn't absolutely necessary to develop an emotional story. What really makes the difference between a good work and a bad work is the concept lying behind, let's say, the idea which is contained in and expressed by the work itself. If your starting idea is powerful, it means that you're already at a good point. After that, if you add to this idea your personal artistic touch, which concerning Tsumiki no Ie is a simple but fluid and vivid artwork and a soft piano soundtrack, then you may say you have reached your purpose.
The idea behind Tsumiki no Ie is the worth and the importance of prec…
Read at the sourcekaonasi_mV
The fine film reminding of eternity to us. The author used a fine metaphor - water which personifies this eternity: water flows overflow banks and flood everything that we left in yesterday. And we can see the person who resists to this stream and builds on the house. But this house which has grown by tens floors, and remained one-storeyed. It is small history about the small person in the small house :) In fact the house is a course of life of the character. And all of us build the houses every day. The first steps, the first class at the school, the first love, the first injured heart, a family, children... So, on bricks, there is our vital history. And with each such stage in life there is less place to opening therefore the living space of the old man decreases each time. With age at u…
Read at the sourcektulu007
Tsumiki no Ie is a twelve minute long animated film. It's an art piece about life and memories. The basic structure is that an old man is living in a town that's slowly flooding. He builds an extra layer onto his house to stay above the waters, but he drops his pipe in the process. He gets a scuba suit and goes through the layers of his house, reflecting on his life.Even though his life's events are familiar, they're shown in a way that's actually engaging and interesting.
The only real character in this is the old man. There are some people who appear in his memories and who he interacts with, but you get almost nothing about them except how they appeared to him, since there's no dialogue. The film does do a really good job of giving the viewer insight into his thoughts and character jus…
Read at the sourceTheGoatee
The most precious thing to a person, arguably, are their memories. When one has nothing, they will always be able to remember. Whether they are tragic are heartwarming, memories are powerful, and Tsumiki no Ie portays the importance of memories in a flawless manner.
Tsumiki no Ie takes place in a world where the water level rises every day, forcing people to make there houses high enough above the water, which has caused the buildings to be extremely tall even when everything but the top is submerged. When an elderly man drops his pipe in a lower level of the building, he puts on a scuba suit and dives down to retrieve. When he finds it, he is faced with memories that have since been submerged and forgotten, and making the old man submerge even further. As he descends, your see a glimpse…
Read at the sourcetrzr23
In a matter of 12 minutes, Le Maison en Petits Cubes tells a simple tale of growing old that leaves you staring at your wistful expression on the black screen long after the credits have rolled.
This Oscar winning short film (Best Animated Short Film in 2009, making this the second ever anime to win an Oscar, although whether this truly is anime is a debate best left for later) is about a grumpy old man who builds additional levels onto his home in order to escape the water that is flooding his town. While rummaging through the lower levels, he is flooded with memories of his life and how the eternal continuum of time filled his journey with speckles of happiness and inklings of sorrow.
With the entire world as a metaphor for life and the passage of time itself, this artsy animated shor…
Read at the sourceMatethetiger
Words are poor. All letters, cyphers, whole sentences... Do we really need them?
Yes... they are poor...
Look at this little house. A house from cubes. Little croocked, looking like a baby's toy... and an old man inside. But not a single word. But the what we see is so meaning. Thigs, gesture... even when we are forgetting how to write, how to speak... the memories and some pictures in our minds are still with us.
An old man was building floor after floor... to escape from reality shttp://myanimelist.net/myreviews.php?seriesid=5365&go=writeomehow. But as he was building it... he lost the reason for this. He was hunted down by his own routine. A picture with a woman... but just a picture. Pipe, fishes, wine, TV...
But when the past started to hunt him again, he just gone up and builded th…
Read at the sourceBurning_Palm
La Maison en Petits Cubes (En: The House Of Small Cubes) is one of the best short films, though overlooked by many, it is one of the most enjoyable to be released. It is the perfect example of how you can tell a great story, without the use of dialogue or a large cast of characters. It is accompanied by a superb soundtrack, along with great, stylized animation, and is one of the most impressive all around.
La Maison en Petits Cubes is the story of an elderly man and his past. His world is flooded and the water level continues to rise, as it happens he builds onto his home to avoid drowning. One day he wakes up to a seemingly familiar sight, his home is flooded, the man begins building on to the home and starts to salvage his possessions as he gathers the last of it, he drops his pipe thr…
Read at the sourcekan-san
A beautiful little unique short masterpiece.
I watched this movie with high expectations, as I had heard from many that it was really good. But it still managed somehow to surpass those expectations.
The animation is much better than normal anime, it's sort of like a moving watercolour painting. It's some of the best art I have ever seen.
The story is also really moving, as it manages to capture the entire life of an old man and is also very tear-jerking. The music is fluid and beautiful and adds to the beauty.
The ending scene will make you skip a heartbeat.
All I could do after finishing this was stare at the screen and sniff.
Truly masterful.
Read at the sourceSawlSeki
When I started watching La Maison en Petits Cubes, what I instantly noticed was the running time. Aprox. 12min. I thought that nothing coherent could ever come form a 12 minutes story, but I was very, very wrong.
If an anime could truly be called a Masterpiece, then La Maison en Petits Cubes is definitely one of them. What should we expect from such a short movie...without any words?! Please, expect a lot, you will not be disappointed.
This movie tells us the story of an old man living in a small house, in a small place, where floods seem to be somewhat usual. One day, this old man, while recovering his belongings and furniture from the water, lets his smoking pipe fall into the water.
He gets himself a diving suit and goes in search of his poor smoking pipe, that has fallen near a small…
Read at the sourceace52387
Overview:
Maison en Petit Cubes is a metaphorical and heartfelt exploration of everything that lies behind an old man`s seemingly meaningless existence. His world is flooded, and all the houses that managed to keep above the water have been stacked like pyramids, with each living space getting progressively smaller. Our lethargic old man`s now jail cell sized room has just been flooded, so he gets to work building yet another, smaller room at the top of his house. As he works, he drops his pipe into the water. Unwilling to part with it, he dawns diving gear and goes through each level of his house to get to the bottom, finding memories associated with each room in the process.
Story:
The rich metaphors in this film leave an openness to interpretation that can be mulled over for quite a wh…
Read at the sourceneow_neow
La Maison en Petits Cubes deserves to be awarded as Best Animated Short Film 2009 for Oscar Award. As you watch this film, it shows a scene with an old man, who looks all grouchy and alone. At first it may be just a normal film with nothing but an old man's life; there is no narrator who will guide us. But as you keep watching this film, you will understand the story easily.
The story contains his present time and his past time. As you look into his past memories even more, you will feel touched and even more by watching with an excellent artwork. For me, tears fell from my eyes because it was "so" touching when he shows us more of his memories.
Personally, I have watched this film many times already. This is not my first time watching it. You may think it's ridiculous to watch the same…
Read at the sourceYemi_Hikari
Notebly, this really is one that one has to watch to figure out. While I can talk about whats good about it and everything, there are some things I can't elaborate on or explain at all because it would spoil for one. This is one that one should definatly watch and make up their mind about.
Story: The story is a very sweet one. A few people won't like that there is no dialog in the story, but it runs completly from it's art form. The plus side of having no dialog is, it doesn't need to be translated and people can enjoy it right away. Also... it isn't going to be for everyone, but at least give it a try.
Art: The art work is not what one would typically expect for Anime. There is nothing smooth about this art work. Instead, it has the feeling that one is telling a story through art scetch…
Read at the source