When the Day Breaks

Winner of both the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the International Animation Festival in Annecy and--for what it may be additionally worth--my favorite animated title of the year, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis' brilliantly drawn short examines the profound implications of a chance encounter. Early one morning, Ruby (a pig) bundles up in coat and kerchief, and bustles off to the grocer for some milk. Arriving at the store, she bumps into an exiting stranger (a chicken), whose bag of lemons spills out into the street. Embarrassed, Ruby quickly enters the grocer's, only to hear--moments later--the sound of a horn, followed by the ominous siren of an ambulance. The anthropomorphic characters in When the Day Breaks (a bittersweet double entendre) beautifully express a wide range of familiar human emotions and feelings: simple joy, shock, irritation, fear, anguish, and--ultimately--an almost indefinable sense of sublimity. Hard to categorize or explain the lift this film gives you, yet like the noted pop psychologist Huey Lewis (& the News) said, "I Know What I Like," and this is it. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)