This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

"The Old Lady and the Pigeons" is a 25-minute animated short film from almost 20 years ago. It was done by Sylvain Chomet at a young age and, even if this film "only" won the BAFTA and did not win the Oscar (lost to Pixar)and was "only" nominated, he managed to build a successful career on this short movie. He was certainly not the most prolific filmmaker, but when he made a new movie, it was quite successful. For example he managed to get several more Oscar nominations and that is really not a given as he is not an American filmmaker and his movies never reached great audience figures outside of France.Now about his work here, I would say it is a good movie and he deserved the nomination all in all and a win may have been a bit too much. Maybe this film should only have run for 15 minutes as the basic plot is not really that much for almost half an hour. Still I have to say, it never dragged. With the basic plot I mean a guy who is starving realizes that a pigeon-feeding lady at the park has terrible eyesight and starts eating with the other pigeons from that day on. The woman also takes him home and makes him special meals. Is she really that stupid and blind? This is a pretty good film on the art of make-believe. But who is the artist in the end? Watch for yourself.

After "Tripplets of Bellvile" (which is my favorite animated movie of all time) I was hungry for more of Sylvian Chomet unique world...Thankfully I've soon found "The Old lady and the pigeons"! A movie set in the same universe and with the same charm and grotesque of the "Tripplets". Its short but but it will make you want watch it over and over again (over and over) Its very hard to describe this story without ruining for you as all of movie elements connect together in a wonderful way and story is building in a very oryginal way you never seen beafore. In fact this movie has "oryginal" written all over. Just trust me when I say - if you enjoy Tripplets or have a dark sense of humor you will enjoy this one very much!WHY THEY Don't MAKE MORE MOVIES LIKE THIS is a riddle to me...

THE OLD LADY AND THE PIGEONS was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 1998 and wow was that a tough year to choose! In one of the best lineup of films I can remember, the Pixar short GERI'S GAME beat out such terrific films as Petrov's MERMAID and this film. As for the other two films, FAMOUS FRED and REDUX RIDING HOOD, I saw FRED and wasn't very impressed and I can't find a copy of REDUX. However, as a "three horse race", it was very, very tight because all three were terrific films.Oddly, the winner of the award was my least favorite of the three--as I think there are quite a few better Pixar shorts. MERMAID was by far the most beautiful and artistic and PIGEONS was by far the funniest and strangest of the films. As to whether I prefer the Russian or French film, I am not sure--I loved them both.The film begins and ends with some very stereotypical American tourists. This was a two-edged sword. While they were very funny (especially in the final sequence), I also worry that this is just encouraging French hatred of Americans. Both countries need to relax a bit in the stereotypes and this film is like gasoline in the fire--albeit, very, very funny "gasoline".Then, after this odd introduction, the film begins in earnest. There is a policeman who is very, very hungry and doesn't seem to have any money for food. And while walking his beat, he notices that an old lady is feeding the pigeons like they are kings and he's jealous. So in a very weird twist, he starts grabbing pigeons off the sidewalks, stripping them of their feathers and making himself a false pigeon head from them!! He looks ridiculous but the old lady is apparently either blind or senile or both because she invites him into her home and feeds him as well. You'd think she would give him and the real pigeons bread or seeds, but feeds them wine, pastry and meat!! Where it all goes from here, you'll have to see for yourself. The film is very funny, twisted and occasionally dark. But because it is so unique and so wonderful, I really wish this and MERMAIDS could have shared the Oscar--they were both that good.

This wonderfully dotty short film from the creator of Belleville Rendez-vous, Sylvain Chomet, really is fantastic. It has an original storyline - a starving gendarme, some greedy fat pigeons, a pigeon-obsessed lady, and some wild dancing.The animation puts its grotesque characters (which put me in mind of the drawings of Gerald Scarfe) into a world all of their own, where the gendarme fantasises about food, is irritated by pigeons, and eventually dresses up as one of the birds himself to continually visit the old lady for slap-up meals.'The Old Lady and the Pigeons' is the epitome of bad taste cartoons, a darkly fun half-hour in the company of skewed figures and warped minds.