FIB Film Of The Week: Borrowed Time

Pixar Animation Studios are generally renowned for the subtly dark undertones in their children’s films. Take Up, which explores the very tragic grief experienced by an elderly man who loses his wife. Even Pixar’s most recent Inside Out see’s some particularly difficult choices made by the characters, ones that result in some painful emotions that are beyond the ability of a child to comprehend. Yet, these films are enjoyable for both children and adults. However, despite their wide appeal, for the most part they are still generally considered children’s films, as is most animated film. Well, Pixar’s animators Lou Hamou-Lhadj and Andrew Coats just released a short 6-minute film Borrowed Time and is most certainly NOT for kids. 

Borrowed Time explores some particularly heavy themes in Pixar’s darkest way yet. The film delves into the complicated themes of loss, guilt and forgiveness in bold and unexpected ways. Hamou-Lhadj and Coats have pushed the boundaries of animation to the very edge and opened up the possibilities for a genre that has generally been reserved for children. They said of their recent short film

“A goal for us was to make something that kind of contested the notion of animation being a genre, and one for children specifically. We really wanted to make something that was a little bit more adult in the thematic choices, and show that animation could be a medium to tell any sort of story.”

With their remarkable attention to detail, the marelvously expressive characters and perfectly detailed environment, Borrowed Time maintains the unmistakable Pixar look in what could possibly be the beginning of their first adult-only feature-length film.

Borrowed Time from Borrowed Time on Vimeo.

The film has been touring around film festivals and is now available on Vimeo for a limited time.

Were you as amazed as we were? Let us know in the comments!