The Lost Thing
Madman Entertainment
R4 DVD
The
Lost Thing by Shaun Tan is a rather unusual product. It includes a short film
of 15 minutes, loads of extras and a hardback book What Miscellaneous Abnormality is that: A field Guide 257th Edition
by Shaun Tan. It is nicely presented in a presentation case. The Lost Thing is
an animated short with Shaun Tan as director adapted from his graphic book, The
Lost Thing. It received an Honourable Mention at the Bologna International Book
Fair, Italy and was named an Honour Book at the CBCA Awards. It also won an Aurealis Award and a Spectrum Award for illustration in the
United States.
The Lost Thing
is a humorous yet vaguely disturbing story about a boy who discovers a
bizarre-looking creature while out collecting bottle-tops at a beach. The thing
is a strange cross between an organic and mechanic creature and it becomes
quickly noticeable that there are no animals in the film except humans. The
world they like in is grey, mechanical, lifeless and routine. As the boy
becomes concerned about the fact that the thing is lost he also finds that
nobody else cares about its condition. He asks various people about the thing
but nobody has any idea about what it is or what to do.
In
the end he takes it home but his parents are none too impressed. He talks to
his best friend who seems more interested in its measurements and shape that
really coming to grips with the fact that it is lost. The whole world around
him seems to be this way, it is a world concerned only with the stable routine
of everyday life.
As
he tries to resolve what to do he sees an advert on television from the
Government Department for Odds and Ends asking if strange things are
interfering with the normal flow of your life. He takes the thing to the grey
and rather foreboding government building and is confronted with a pile of
forms to fill in. A small strange fellow gives him a card with a squiggly arrow
on it and by following the signs he is able to take the thing to a world where
other things live. A world filled with colours, shapes and music.
The
story ends as the boy becomes a man and reflects on how he doesn’t see many
things anymore, except once in a while at the edge of his vision.
The
story is beautifully told with quite stunning animation. There are so many
subtexts to the tale from the loss of creativity and spontaneity in adulthood
to the way outsiders and different “things” are perceived by the grey and cold
world at large. This is certainly a unique package made all the more enjoyable
by the book that comes with it. It is a limited edition book which will not be
sold separately.
Reviews appear on the Synergy website with
a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with
multiple images and with expanded content.
This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 6 of the digital and print
edition of Synergy.
We recommend you download
the free digital edition (or buy the print edition)
to get the most from Synergy. The print and digital editions of Synergy also
include a large selection of articles and features not found on the website. If
you have a limited download quota you can view the digital edition via the Issuu viewer on the digital edition page.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here to go to the
front page of Synergy Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com