Review: We Can’t Live Without Space – We Can’t Live Without Space (2014)

Director: Konstantin Bronzit | 16 minutes | animation, short film, drama

The Russian Konstantin Bronzit is one of the most versatile animators of the moment. His films are all fundamentally different in both style and content. For example, you have the Oscar nominated “Lavatory Lovestory”, a short animated film, hand drawn with simple black marker lines. In addition, there is “The God”, an absurdist short film in which the computer-animated bronze statue of the Hindu God Shiva is annoyed by a fly. And then there is now also “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”, a slightly more classic animation film about two astronauts in training who are also each other’s best friends.

“We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” doesn’t use spoken words, but the story is quite simple and therefore easy to follow. In 15 minutes you get to see the seemingly light-hearted and funny story of aspiring astronauts No. 1203 and No. 1204, who are best friends outside of their training. The two are the stars of the team and score well on every test. When one of them is finally chosen to be launched in a rocket, the story takes a sad turn.

This animated short film is hand drawn on paper and then converted into 2d animation. The images and drawing style are very accessible, which ensures that Bronzit can appeal to a large audience with this film. However, it takes a while for the viewer to realize how deeply this film can touch you. The humor provides a buffer, as it were, to mask the sad emotions of the main character. In his tragicomedy, “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” is heartbreaking. Still, the film leaves a warm feeling in the viewer because the scenes are often genuinely funny in their simplicity and because the emotions come across so genuine and authentic. So Bronzit is moving without depressing. We are looking forward to the next of this Russian talent.