If you are looking for a light yet atypical film about love that overcomes any obstacle, then the short animation ‘The Lost Sole‘ is the right choice. By adopting a fairly predictable, happy-ending scenario, director Sunny Clarke creates a gentle and somewhat hilarious story about two soulmates that fate unites them despite disasters that seem to separate them forever. We know, you’ve met this narrative pattern in many romantic dramas and comedies, but did you know that objects can experience the same feelings, as humans do? Yes, this project aims to humanize two shoes that make up a pair, assigning them all the emotional reactivities we all are familiar with: passion, fear, uncertainty or hope. Indeed, such a cinematic strategy may seem quite naive to you, but it is precisely this very somewhat cliché-like naivety that makes this animation so empathic, while relying on the universality of human feelings that any spectator can identify with, regardless their social or cultural affiliation.
Deano and Torvey are two soulmates-shoes that a ruthless wave separates them during a romantic stroll along the seashore. On this occasion, each will experience loneliness, although they both keep hope alive, dreaming of a miraculous reunion. While Deano arrives on a sort of island of unpaired shoes, Torvey’s masters think of the usefulness of the shoe that has lost its partner. Is there any silver lining for Deano and Torvey?
Without claiming to be a project intended to an elitist public, Sunny Clarke’s project is a relaxing and optimistic film that uses the narrative and aesthetic principles of a classic animation designed especially for children. Not accidentally, wordplay based on homonyms, the touching naivety of speech and the „unexpected” epic twists combine with a clean, bright chromaticity that friendly materializes the universe of humanized objects. Obviously, a mature spectator could interpret the love story of the two shoes as a general metaphor of the soulmates who manage to overcome the whims of destiny, but the cherished relationship between Deano and Torvey makes any pretentious explanation almost unnecessary. ‘The Lost Sole’ is therefore a light animation for any type of audience that quits searching for bizarre stories or spectacular cinematic formulas to enjoy almost seven minutes of total disconnection from the ugliness of this world.
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