The Ribbon - Short Film Review

The Ribbon – By Polla-Ilariya Kozino – Short Film Review

The Ribbon is an emotionally-stunning journey through the eyes of an imaginative young girl.

The Ribbon brilliantly manages to capture simplicity, while still packing a very effective emotional punch. It’s fast-pace and perfectly-executed beats have the feeling of some of the best Pixar animations. It has that effective story focus, while still sticking to the important matters at hand in the short itself.

Specifically, this beautiful story follows the enchanting, imaginary world within this young girl’s mind. In the world, she is bound by her little red ribbon, which brings sadness to her, but it is quickly overlooked by the beauty around her and her imaginative, joyfulness. Though the heartbreaking reality is that this little girl is actually sick in the hospital, dreaming of this world of color and glee.

The reveal of what her red ribbon actually represents, and the true sadness of the story is perfectly placed and built-up to. The execution of the reveal was emotional and brilliant in terms of directing and writing. It really does hurt, watching as an audience member, but the beauty of the story overpowers the emotional pain. 

The two artistic elements that bring this story to the complete next level is the incredible animation and the amazing score. These two elements work hand in hand in delivering this magical tale. The music is the story driver, taking the place of dialogue, and doing so wonderfully. This absolutely lovely score was composed by the immensely talented Jonathan Galland It elevates the color, the joy and especially, the sadness turnaround to come. That masterful use of music, along with the mesmerizing colors and fluidity of the animation amounts to a perfect animated short. 

All-in-all, The Ribbon is an excellent piece of animated storytelling. It’s short in length, but it really makes you think long after. This is a prime example of how effective short-form storytelling can really be!