Adel John

Alma is a film shrouded with eeriness and uncertainty. The film may contain a childlike, playful atmosphere that builds up with suspense of terror as you watch on helplessly. This short-film, with a running time of about 5 minutes and 29 seconds, is a computer-animated fantasy horror film that was directed and produced by an ex-Pixar animator Rodrigo Blass. The film was released on the 4th of June, 2009 and received a generally positive review with 7.3/10 in IMDB and 8.4/10 with Google Reviews. The plot goes with a young girl named Alma who wandered around a deserted town during the winters where she stumbled upon an abandoned doll shop. She saw a mysterious looking doll who was a carbon copy of herself and was enticed by it until it was too late for as she entered the shop and touched it, she immediately was possessed by it. Alma became the doll herself. The plot was overtly simple as it is follows a linear structure and you would understand the film in a single viewing yet it won’t sway you within the first minute as it promptly invites you to the center piece of the film, the doll. The doll symbolizes desire, curiosity and it perfectly coincide with the theme of the story being how you can fall into the traps of greed and hunger. More than that, the cinematography of Alma is exceptional. With the use of the contrast between the colorful hues of the attire of the girl and the dead, grey, desaturated colors of her environment, you would somehow know that this film is not all about fun. The lighting also contributed to the effectiveness of the story as it is full of shadows when Alma enters the shop, providing a stark contrast against the bright tone outside the shop. The music also played a part in making this film well made. The score starts with a friendly tune like a typical opening for any animation film. Yet it all disappeared as the doll emerged and the music turned into a strange, quirky sound. The computer animation was also great as it does not look cheap and awkward. It was lively, responsive and full of expressions. You could see the joy, the concern, the regret in every frame of Alma’s face. You would know that it was done by a professional animator. Overall, I would highly recommend you to watch this film as it is well produced with an amazing story, soundtrack, cinematography and animation as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it at my first viewing and it has not bore me out yet on my second and third viewing. This truly deserves the positive criticism that it gets online.