We Lived in Grass
We Lived in Grass
| 02 January 1995 (USA)
We Lived in Grass Trailers

"We Lived in Grass" (1995) is a student film and Hykade's first part of The Country Trilogy. The set of the film is a place just two streets away from the end of the world. The film is told from the point of view of a little boy. "All women is whore and all men is soldier," the father of the boy says. "So go into Grass and kill a tiger for the best tits you can find." As the father gets testicular cancer, a journey into Grass for the young hero begins. We lived in Grass won numerous awards including the German short film Price.

Reviews
MartinHafer

One of the reviews for this animated short really liked it but admitted that the film wasn't always understandable. Now I understand that art films are often difficult to comprehend but why in the case of this film did they have to make everything so strange and obtuse? To me, this did get in the way of enjoying it and I had a hard time forcing myself to stick with it--though I did.The film has so many strange images that I really don't want to try to explain them--you just have to see it for yourself. The story appears to be about the youngest of four kids whose father eventually dies and he also discovers love and the opposite sex. However, the journey there is so strange and convoluted, I am sure I missed something and it must be more than a story about life's journey.The art of the film varied a lot. Sometimes it was impressive--particularly with the nice shading and textures. However, so much of the art looked like a child did it, though I think it was intended to look more tribal. In fact, speaking of tribal, I think the film was supposed to be set in Africa--at least the kid doing the narration sounded African. However, tigers don't come from Africa--perhaps this was just a mistranslation from the German.Overall, this film just left me baffled. Perhaps I am just a plebeian, but I didn't get it.

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lakens

Hykade uses animation like some writers use poetry. He expresses himself using his own developed images and techniques. This results in an animation that is associative, and not always completely understandable. However, as with poetry, the goal of the creator is not always to be understood; otherwise he wouldn't have told the story the way he did. It's more likely Hykade is trying to create a world in which he guides us along, where you can observe, and maybe enjoy what you see. And then again, you may not. This animation is not intended for naive watchers, or those with a strong need for a clear storyline from start to finish. However, it is not as experimental as some animations, and in my view, Wir Lebten I'm Gras is perfectly in the middle. The animation are divers, using several styles throughout the movie, and all together it kept my attention throughout, and it is so unique an has such a style of it's own full creativity, it's worth watching.

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