1. Logorama
Dirs: François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain (France) Here's a fun little game. While you're watching this film (and trust me, you
really don't want to miss it ), try and see just how many famous brands, logos and corporate mascots you recognize scattered across every frame. There must be at least ten in just the above picture. In fact, there are over 2,500 crammed into its 16-minute duration; transforming Los Angeles into both the world's biggest billboard and Naomi Klein's worst nightmare. From the opening frame your eyes are greedily absorbing every last inch of the screen as though counting stars in the night sky. You name a company, its here - although not as youd perhaps expected. The Pringles mascot is seen propositioning an Esso girl, two Michelin Men cops trade Tarantino-esque small talk and, in his least flattering role to date, Ronald McDonald is a foul-mouthed, car-jacking, gun-toting maniac who has brought the city to a standstill. Part comedy, part blockbuster, Logorama was the winner of the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 2010. And it's easy to see why. Yes, maybe the violence and bad language could be toned down a little but what really differentiates this garish orgy of consumerist irony (the world's first PR disaster movie?) from, say, a tired polemic on big brands omnipresence is its witty yet wonderfully simple sense of humour. Visual puns are so cleverly and unexpectedly presented that you laugh first simply from recognition, and then at the joke that leapt out in ambush. For example, a dropped drink bottle in a fast food restaurant splashes on the floor to create the orange splat of the Nickelodeon logo. A caged lion at the zoo slowly reveals the MGM sign above its head. And, perhaps most ingeniously, an earthquake splits the ground into the neon green Xbox logo. Such densely-packed sight gags remind you of The Simpsons (which recently provided its own in-universe parody of Logorama) in that it's impossible to spot them all in a single sitting. Which is why, as the closing credits crawl into the frame, you'll return to the start and watch it all over again. Just don't forget to keep count, this time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75D0PZi9OA4