"Ryan" is a 15-minute animated documentary on Oscar-nominated animation pioneer Ryan Larkin. The irony is that Larkin did not win his nomination, but Chris Landreth did 10 years ago for his work here. However, I have to say the animation used in here was not really my cup of tea and I did not find Larkin interesting enough either. Also it never elaborates on him in detail. We find out about tragedies in his life and his struggle with alcohol and seconds later the film jumps somewhere completely else story-wise and shows us some clips from Larkin's work. The alcoholism reference was maybe the negative highlight, especially with the sound afterward. it was almost comedic. It's obviously a really serious topic and I did not like how Landreth acted as some kind of higher authority in something that was entirely scripted and there is no doubt this part was really only included for dramatic purpose. It felt out of place for me. These 15 minutes are a decent summary of Larkin's career and it may have some personal relevance for Landreth if Larkin is one of his idols, but for general audiences I find this fairly unappealing. Not recommended and I am not surprised Landreth is not having a booming career at all. Winning short film Oscars seems to be a bit of a curse.
Review of Ryan
