Review of Voices of a Distant Star (2002) by Hannes Å — 04 Nov 2007

This is how art should be done. One man and one idea. A man who wanted to tell a story and did so how he wanted, in his time, in his way and had the drive to do so. All Maktotos' work really pays of in one of, if not the greatest short films I have ever known.

With a great emphasis of artistic style, the visual presentation of the film adds so much to the amazing, emotional story. Hand drawn animation mixed with 3D animation and CG paintings combine to create a real sight to see, but its the story and its charaters that really push this film to brilliance.

VOADS tells a classic love story with a futuristic twist. You will need a bit of a head on you to understand the troubles of space travel and its effects on our characters, but anyone with a basic understanding of time dilation should be ok here.

Going through the years with our 2 lovers trying to keep in contact over ever increasing distances, talking past the stars themselves, you can't not feel every bit emotional. I'm not afraid to admit that the first time I watched this film, I cried.

It really is that touching, and any film... simply a collection of moving images and sounds... can make its viewers FEEL to that degree... is nothing short of brilliant.