This is a Russian animated short film that runs for slightly under half an hour and was made by Aleksandr Petrov almost 10 years ago, so far his last work of a director. Petrov has been pretty successful with the Academy. He made 6 animated films. 4 of them got an Academy Award nomination and one of these got the win, all in the animated short film category. However, this one here did not win and I am not really mad about it. The animation style I am not the biggest fan of, although it's okay and not the biggest weakness of the film. The biggest weakness may be that it just throws crucial story points out there and does not properly elaborate on these, such as the artificial eye or the man that the young woman is supposed to marry. Or even the general idea of a teenage boy with 2 love interests, which is a good one, but I felt they did not really make the most of this premise. I am not sure if that is Petrov's fault or the fault of Ivan Shmelyov. The latter, by the way is credited as being responsible for the screenplay, which is not true. He wrote the piece that this is based on, but was long dead when Petrov made this one here. Maybe it helps to understand this short film if you have read Shmelyov's work, but this should not be a requirement. All in all, not recommended.

You know that you've become an animation buff when the mere mention of Aleksandr Petrov makes your heartbeat quicken in anticipation. Along with fellow genius Yuriy Norshteyn, he has become one of my favourite Russian animators, and such impressive short films as 'Korova (1989)' and 'The Old Man and the Sea (1999)' rank among my favourites. 'My Love (2006),' Petrov's latest film, was his fourth to be nominated for Best Animated Short at the Oscars, and, though it lost to Suzie Templeton's 'Peter & the Wolf (2006),' it certainly is one of the year's finest releases in any medium. Generally well-received by critics, 'My Love' has nonetheless stirred a few incidents of controversy, including comments from Chris Robinson – head of the Ottawa International Animation Festival – who apparently took offence to Petrov's pursuit of realism. Likewise, other leading animators, including Norshteyn himself, remarked that perhaps the film was too focused on technology rather than storytelling.The plot is based on "A Love Story," a 1927 novel by Ivan Shmelyov, and concerns a 16-year-old boy, Antosha, who is searching for his first true love. As he falls in and out of his romantic fantasies, Antosha must decide between two young woman who have captured his fancy – a pretty, innocent but uneducated parlourmaid named Pasha, and an experienced upper-class lady named Serafima. He is equally smitten with both lovers, but his inability to choose between them will prove tragic. Pasha is genuinely affectionate towards Antosha, but class restrictions prevent them from coming together without a certain hesitation; on the other hand, Antosha worships Serafima as a "goddess," considering her representative of his lover ideal. When experience reveals a fatal blemish in his idealistic illusions, the young boy rejects the older woman, but not before his indecision has cost him the girl that he truly loved.'My Love' often treads a fine line of comprehensibility – I'm not even certain that my description so far is completely accurate – but it's really the visuals that you should be watching out for. Petrov's style of paint-on-glass animation is instantly recognisable, and has all the beauty of a moving Impressionistic painting, the oils and colours shifting smoothly like the quiet waves of an ocean. Though, in order to achieve a sense of "romantic realism," Petrov has produced about 20% of the film using a kind of rotoscoping, he just as frequently descends into fantastic flights of the imagination. Antosha's inner romantic turmoil is represented through beautiful and sometimes terrifying daydreams – rowboats on a pond, ships amid a lightning storm, bodies burning in the pits of Hell – and Petrov's constantly-shifting style of animation is perfect for evoking the timelessness of our dreams and memories.

Aleksandr Petrov has been nominated for three Oscars for Best Animated Short Film and also won the Award for THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. While only winning 1 of the 4 times he was up for the award, he easily could have won every time, as his artwork is so unique and transcendent--making the films less as cartoons and more like gorgeous works of art. Sadly, there's almost no information about this important artist on IMDb--and this probably reflects the gap between the East and West. Like all of his films, it is long (for a short) and tells a very complex story in vivid colors and textures. If you've never seen one of Petrov's films before, you'll find yourself transfixed. As for me, it's the fourth one I've seen and so some of the newness has worn off--but it's still amazing and I'll be pulling for him at the award ceremony next month.UPDATE---This is the day before the Oscars are announced for 2008 and I just got back from a special screening by our local film society of all five films nominated in the category of Best Animated Short Film. "Moya lyubov" was even prettier on the big screen and of the five nominees it was definitely the most artistic, though I enjoyed watching "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" more. Petrov's film is great and is a pretty good bet for the Oscar. However, it's biggest weaknesses are the plot (which is very unconventional) and the fact that Petrov is a perennial nominee. I think it's definitely between these two films and if I were voting, I'd give the nod to "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" though either one is quite deserving. My advice is regardless of the outcome, see them both.ONE FINAL UPDATE--2/24/08--The Oscar was just announced and the winner in this category was PETER & THE WOLF. It just goes to show what I know!!

Just watched this Russian film that's nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short of 2007. Moya lyubov (My Love) seems to be an oil painting come to life that tells the story of a young man's infatuation with two women: one that's dark-haired who seems so far away from him to have any contact with and one who's blond in pigtails who is very close in proximity and seems to have a very good interest in him. Since I saw this on YouTube as linked from Cartoon Brew in the native country's language with no subtitles, I couldn't completely understand what was going on but many of the painting-like movements presented such a visual dream-like state to the proceedings that I was mesmerized just the same. Very worthy of the Oscar nomination so I wouldn't mind if it won but I saw two others of the nominated that were interesting in their own way so here's to them all.