Crac!

A fur-clad carpenter fells a grand tree amidst the pristine woods of Quebec and uses some of the wood to build a rocking chair. It soon becomes the property of his fiancée, then his wife, then a toy for their children that allows them to play choo choo and emulate the newly arrived railway as they grew up and the city of Montreal starts to grow up around them. Over time, the chair has it’s fair share of scrapes until eventually is is discarded and ends up, rather poetically, being an accidental exhibit in a modern art museum - when not being used by the commissionaire. I really enjoyed this. The score provides just about everything from lively jig to wintry strings; the characterisations have often something of the Dickensian to them as this small community of wooden cabins adjacent to the St. Lawrence river grows into something more high rise and concrete. The animation morphs colourfully from one scenario to another, delicately carrying us on a timeline of industrialisation whilst still leaving us to savour the more rustic elements of these pioneer’s adventures as the snow frequently and peacefully lay deep around them. In many ways, this is like a sequence of Christmas cards and it’s well worth fifteen minutes as a rock'n roll years with a difference.