It's astounding to me that this video has existed for over ten years and only has one million views. This is the short film that made me want to become an animator. It is CRIMINALLY underrated.
@urbanyouths Pretentious? I guess if you don't know what film noir is, it could seem that way. Noir was all about style and darkness. This is more of a homage to that
Same, I find myself coming back here every year or so. Another favorite of mine is the animated story of "The Man Who Planted Trees." Though it is quite different. Still I wonder how many more hidden gems like this are on youtube. I do wish we could get a thread going in which people would list them all.
It was horrifyingly real, apparently. It was thought up by a psychiatrist, Johann Christian Reil, to shock patients out of catatonia around 1800. It's truly appalling.
Since the closed caption seems to be a bit inaccurate and one is absent from the description I decided to write out the transcript for anyone wants. - Long ago my city’s luminous heart, beat with the song of 4000 cats. Crooners who shone in the moonlight mimicry of the spotlight Jazz singers. Hip cats that went "Scat!". Buskers with open-mouthed hats hungry for a feed. Parlours paraded purring glamorous songstresses. Smoky hookahs and smoking hookers. Strays strummed string and sung a cocktail of cat's tales. A decadent party of meowing sound, A bohemian behemoth, post-midnight soiree. Amongst the corral of tuneful ones was one fair queen who drew me from all the way. Her fur an amorous white and a voice that made all the angels of eternity sound... tone deaf. Blind with love at first sight, touched by the taste of her sound, I longed to be the microphone she cradled near her breast. 'Twas our Shangri-La of sound, a paradise found where nothing could stop us. Or so it seemed. Singers began to vanish like sailors lost at sea. Snatched from stage alleyway. Shanghaied from behind scarlet curtain. Into thin air they disappeared without a single cry. Police study the clues. Foot-prints from the human shoes... So you've heard of every instrument but, Torn from your history books is this pianola, this harpsichord of harm, The cruelest instrument to spawn from man's gray cerebral soup? The Cat Piano. Confined were the cats in a row of cages, with each note struck upon its ivory tusk a sharpened nail would pierce each cat's tail, forcing a note form each pitch on the scale. I ran my cursed writer's run to tell her "Beware!". She wasn't there. My soul capsized. Like a fish paralyzed on a chopping board, it's spinal cord ripped forth from its body, Her vocals the last the last the thief had needed, A rare celestial pitch that would complete his collection. The city in unrest. Fights broke out in its sleep I couldn't dream anymore. There was a hole in my heart and everything fell out of it All music forbidden. Keep your lullabies hidden. And your A & E minors off the street after dark. My town grew cold and bitter In icy hibernation was the once thumping heart. Now seizing up. Freezing up. Katzenklavier The torturous worm of sound burrowed deep into my ears. Le Piano Du Chat. I thought of Van Gogh. Kyattopiano. I put an end to this incessant inescapable drone. Māo gāngqín SNAP! I enlisted an army of the brave and I their general declared war. Poised with tooth and fire in paw, we would finally settle this this musical score. Eyes with fierce intent that glowed through tempestuous waters we rode. Storming the shores, a swarming in scores, scaling its walls with well-sharpened claws, We invaded the tower through all of its doors. Up the winding stairs, to meet him with blinding stares. There he sat. The Organ Grinder. He turned. We pounced. We scratched and bit. He stumbled, fell through the window, screaming into the indigo waters below. We freed the chain gang from their jail. Cremated the piano. And for home we set sail. The city had reclaimed its vestal muse. It would live again. Beat again. Cats would sing in the street again. And I in anonymity as I had been long before this soliloquy, Could sit and listen from afar. The Cat Piano, now a healed over wound. And this ode, its fading scar.
No one has ever thanked me for showing them a youtube video out of the blue. They've enjoyed them, they've sparked discussions, they've said "That was cool!", but no one has ever simply said "Thank you." Then I showed somebody this.
This was shown in our English class and I loved it, the moment I even heard the first few seconds of beautiful poetry. The narration was just marvelous, it gave me the chills. I almost cried because it was so beautiful! It's just sad though that my classmates aren't capable of appreciating such beauty......
And years later, Ari Gibson would go on to create Hollow Knight (of which this has a lot of artstyle similarities to! The credits font is even the same and Makoto Koji- hornet’s voice actress- also worked on this! Wow!
Beautiful animation, although this is certainly not for kids. The part that makes me sick is, this was an actual thing! Not really intended for "music", it was supposed to be some sadistic doctor's method of curing attention issues in his patients (TV Tropes brought me here, and yes, you can just Google this fact...but I'm not gonna give myself more nightmares tonight... )
IDK, Cats being tortured and people being torn in half because of some asshole priest are both things that happen in real life, so forgive me for being homospecist but humans rate higher in terms of disturbance level. Though I guess it's subjective. At least Cat Piano has some sort of positive result or point to draw out of it; Backwater Gospel is 100% a nightmare, worst-case-scenario.
Everything about this was amazing. The script, the narrator, the animation, the music, the story, and just everything combining to make a masterpiece. Words cannot describe this brilliance. I love it
This is one of the most brilliant shorts I've seen so far in my 17 years. The music, the poem, the reader of it and the animation. So artistic I could die on the spot by satisfactory. It's the third time I've seen it and it's still smashing!
Almost 10 years old as of the time that I am commenting on this video but the video itself only has 1 million views. THAT IS SO CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED!!!! Imo
As a self proclaimed writer and poet, as well as someone who aspires to create animated films... This is the most poignant independent short films I've ever witnessed. One of the kind that sticks in your head, where you have to see it again every few months a year. The emotions that are spurred from this film are so relatable as well as, resolved by the end... it's a dark fairytale with the best of endings. Bravo!!
I saw this the first time about five years ago, and every time I come back to it, I think, "why do Just Bieber songs have millions of views while something as gorgeous as this film hasn't even broken a million?" Always, always recommend!
The choice of Narrator has to be the best voice casting decision ever made!! As soon as Nick Cave uttered his first syllable chills ran down my spine!!
Not-so-fun fact: that...thing in the video was an actual musical instrument. It's called a cat organ, and it was not for music, but for curing inattention in people
Wow. The chilling brilliance of the lyrics combined with the sharp, dramatic bite of the animation really comes together to make something worthy of making the audience's hackles stand on end. What a purr-fect ensemble! (ok, I don't have as much of a way with words as Eddie White, all right?) Bravo.
Ya know, the keyboardist could've just did what he did by playing meow sound files through some sampler synthesizer.... or using Mario Paint's meow instrument.... But nope, he had to piss off PETA.
The guy that made this (Ari Gibson) is now in a game development team known as team cherry and thay made the game "hollow knight" In case you didn't know this but if you did then... Good for you
The short is fantastic, but honestly, I'm glad it's only 8 minutes long, because I don't think I would be able to handle it if it were longer, let a lone if it were a full length movie
'Found out about this through the video for "Sometimes the Stars" by the Audreys. These animators are awesome. Also it's pretty much official that Nick Cave should narrate *everything ever.*
Hey you are the guy who I said had bad english, but judging from your name, English probably isn't your first language so sorry for being a massive dick.
@@metamarx8409 I don't remember it, but even if you said it I wouldn't be mad since I know damn well I'm shit at English :D Also apology accepted, because sometimes I'm also toxic or a dick to people, and it alot of time I end up apologizing to the guy I insulted so it's all good
LOVE this animation. Its very fluid, the style and color choices are superb and the story is captivating. I watch a LOT of animation, this is one of the most enjoyable films Ive see in a while. Thank you and Ill be looking for more to come from such talent!
Man, this was a really well done short. So much work put into the animation and artwork. I absolutely love the style put into the characters, it's not cutesy or anything, and it fits the story completely. I also love the way you did the music as well. The dark and twisted sound that's mixed in with the classic feel. Nick Cave did great with the narration. He had this calm and cool tone and also did great with the scared tone in his voice. Nice work, man.
I spilled my doritos and montain dew, the fedora fell off my head and my loomynarty glasses broke. You, sir, deserve a fedora tip. If I only could find mine.
We are not used to see videos with content anymore, that is why the dumbest ones get more views. This is what I call "art". Keep on doing this, we need more people like you, that remember us what good quality is.
I still get chills over this short film. The animation and the grim story and everything about it is so dark and yet there’s a glimmer of hope at the end. This right here is an example of why animation is not always a genre for kids. Animation is cinema and it can be used to tell dark stories.
Probably one of the first videos that i remember from all those years ago- certainly one of the few that stuck with me for all this time. Also one of those subtle inspirations for my own writing.
I was thinking of a scene from Terry Gilliam's "Adventures of Baron von Munchausen" where a sultan pulls out a large person-piano. I wish I could say that was the oddest scene in the movie.
amazing art! I Feel like It has a certain algerian style for some reasons, the occasional french language, the andalousian pieces of melody and the marine side... it's just my opinion.
Ahhhaa. It makes me want to cry because it's just so...well...I don't know, a lot of things. It's just beautiful. The artwork, the everything. And I could listen to Nick Cave's voice forever and ever.
