Talking Tribeca: Fear of Flying

I’ve had the pleasure of screening some feature-length and short selections from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place April 17th-28th.

Fear of Flying
Directed by Conor Finnegan
About the Film

This 9-minute Irish short features a bird experiencing the title condition and thus trying to tough out the winter without heading south. The bird casually avoids joining the other members of his species, including an attractive and kindly female bird, for their trip down south and instead stocks up on what he needs as if he were to hibernate like a bear. As expected, the transition doesn’t prove nearly as easy or tenable as he had thought. What could well be an amusing adventure turns out to be quite disappointing and unfulfilling because there’s no stock tone present, and, as a result, the film shifts between a slightly endearing portrait of a kindly bird just trying to survive and an overenthusiastic parody of thrillers and other genre staples. While some opportunities for humorous visuals are taken, others, like the personification of a bird’s alarm clock, are missed entirely. While Pixar and other animated vendors have succeeded with cute, enjoyable films about animals going against their traditional tendencies, this is not one of those. This short was showing as part of the “Worst Day Ever” program.

See it or skip it? Skip it. It’s not one of the great ones.