Rejected
Rejected is a 2000 animated short comedy film by animator Don Hertzfeldt, which was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Short Film, Animated. It has won awards from several film festivals, including a 2001 Jury Award for Best Short at the Newport International Film Festival and a 2001 Festival Award for Best Animation at the New York Underground Film Festival.
The story
The film purports to tell the story of the progressive breakdown of its animator, Don Hertzfeldt. (Though Hertzfeldt is obviously a real person, there is no indication that the rest of the film is anything but fictional.) The frame narrative is told in short text passages printed on the screen, starting with Hertzfeldt being commissioned by the "Family Learning Channel" (a fictional cable channel) to produce animated program bumpers and commercial spots. All of the spots he produced, the text informs us, were reviewed by the client and promptly rejected, and as we watch the spots themselves, we quickly see why: the antics of the balloon-figures and stick figures range from mere head-scratching non-sequiturs to exaggerated sequences of violence and mutilation -- contrasted not only with the cartoony style of the animation, but with the cheery music that accompanies each spot's reminder that "You're watching the Family Learning Channel!"
The text screens then inform us that Hertzfeldt received another commission, from the (fictional) "Johnson & Mills", to produce animated commercials for their products, and like the previous spots, these were all reviewed and immediately rejected. The reasons why are even more pronounced in these spots; the bizarre illogic, the tastelessness, and the themes of mutilation and violence are even more pronounced, culminating in a sequence where a "puffball" figure, after exhorting his fellow cheering puffballs "Every-body... dance!!", notices that his anus is bleeding, announces this fact repeatedly, growing louder and shriller, and by the end of the sequence, is literally swimming in his own blood.
The text screens return and begin the build-up to the final sequences of the film; we are told that Hertzfeldt began to break down, either from the repeated rejection or from the loss of individuality in the corporate world, and shortly we see the characters who have appeared in Hertzfeldt's spots and commercials panicking as their world, the world of the animator's page, suffers an apocalypse: the puffball figures run in terror as the "Family Learning Channel" logo crashes down from the sky and the crushing letters rain down on them; howling winds sweep a talking banana through a hole in the page into the void; the page dents outward towards the camera as stick figures pound on the fourth wall trying to get out. The camera finally freezes on a balloon figure staring as the page crumples around him, staring as his world comes to an end.
Notable moments
The described dialogue and actions may not seem to make sense out of context, but this is misleading: they do not make any sense in context either.
Mah spoon is too big!
Balloon figure, holding spoon as large as he is: Mah spoon... is too big. (beat) Mah spoon... is too big! (beat) Mah spoon is too big!
A banana, with arms and legs and eyes, walks on from off-stage.
Banana: Eye em a banana!
Cut to cheery music and a text screen reading "You're watching the Family Learning Channel."
Tuesday's coming
Balloon Figure #1, cheerily: Tuesday's coming! Did you bring your coat?
Balloon Figure #2, morosely: I live in a giant bucket.