It’s a simple tale: a lowly underling does more and more to please his demanding boss, until everyone and everything cracks under the pressure. But animated short Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse elevates its story with near-perfect execution, pairing vibrant, kinetic artwork with a tone that pinballs between elation and terror.
Here’s the plot description, followed by the short, which we discovered thanks to Vimeo Staff Picks: “The diligent soldier Mr. Pete does everything to meet the high standards of his baroness. To satisfy her insatiable lust for speed, he shovels madly on her new iron horse’s voyage.” (As you can see by this thumbnail, Mr. Pete has had quite a successful time ripping through film festivals across the globe up to this point.)
Swiss filmmaker Kilian Vilim is credited with “idea and director” for this YK Animation Studio-created short; we’re intrigued to see what else they’ve got, uh, coming down the track next.
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