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Title: Loves Me, Loves Me Not
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Surrealism / Drama
Company: Aardman Animations
Directed by: Jeff Newitt
Year: 1992
MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A
Buy on: N/A
The short starts off with a narcissistic man who is admiring himself in the mirror, when he suddenly sees a flower in the ground. The man picks up the flower and starts picking off the flower's petals one by one. Each time the man picks off a flower petal, something happens to him. Like, every time he picks a flower petal stating, "Loves Me," then good things happen to him. But whenever he picks off a flower petal stating, "Loves Me Not," then bad things happen to him.
I've been watching a lot of Aardman Animation's older animated shorts and after watching POP, I just had to watch some more of Aardman Animation's older animated shorts and "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" just happened to be the latest short I've seen. "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" was quite an unusual ride for me, as it's one of the few animated shorts that I've seen that actually dealt with the consequences of being too narcissistic and it does it in a very creative and strange way. I loved the fact that every time the man in the short picks off a flower petal, something happens to him, depending on if he says, "Loves Me" or "Loves Me Not." I found it really interesting that every time the man picks off a flower petal and says, "Loves Me," good things happen to him, like a dozen lips flying towards him to kiss him or he turns into a cupid like angel. But when he picks off a flower petal and says, "Loves Me Not," horrible things happen to him like a rain cloud suddenly comes over him or he's trapped on a island that's surrounded by sharks. These moments greatly convey how the man feels about himself and how conscious he is about his looks. The animation is also brilliant as the man in the short moves very fluidly and I just love how the lighting gets light whenever something good happens to the man and gets dark whenever something bad happens to the man.
My only issue with this short is that the beginning was pretty slow and it took a while for things to really pick up in this short once the man starts to pick off the petals off the flower.
Overall, "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" is a very interesting and strange short that shows the consequences of being too narcissistic in such a creative way. I would definitely give this short a watch!
