Short Film Review Two: OPAL

 

Short Film Review:

OPAL (2020) | Dir: Jack Stauber | Genre: Horror/Musical/Black Comedy | Run Time: 12 mins

“OPAL” is the story of the titular young girl Opal’s curiosity that leads her to a creepy house across the street from her. When she enters the house, she meets three people who share their innermost disturbing struggles. Writer/Director/Animator/Musician Jack Stauber’s second short film was recently released on Halloween of this year by Warner Bros’ Adult Cartoon Comedy Network Adult Swim as a part of their “Adult Swim SMALLS” series, where he also released his previous short film SHOP: A Pop Opera (2019).

Jack Stauber gained notoriety for his short 30-60 second musical cartoons on YouTube which feature his same signature Claymation VHS style seen here. This style helps create the false sense of comfort in Stauber's work. You can see elements of Opal In his cartoons listed below, Cooking with Abigail and Hope, such as the music which masks the horrors of the world surrounding the characters or the seemingly innocent protagonists or their sudden dark outbursts into grim imagery.

                        

Stauber’s Opal is by far his biggest project yet mostly due to it being broadcast on TV, a soundtrack released by Warner bros and its full narrative driven structure. However, this is particularly odd as this may be some people’s introduction to Stauber and it is certainly FULL STAUBER. But I think the more people that see this the better, because Stauber is one fantastic talent.

What really makes Opal, so horrifying is that the situation presented in it is very much a real thing that children have to put up with. The animated setting is also the perfect way to tell the story, doing this in live action would be an ethical and logistical nightmare with a lower budget and the false sense of whimsy it creates is perfect for the fantasy Opal lives out. Also, the animation itself is really well done, live action human bodies are combined with the heads of the clay characters in some scenes and the large scale sets in the opening shots of the film must have taken Stauber a while to make. Especially that of the mothers, what a MESS.

The songs in Opal are fantastic. Catchy, well composed and lyrically dense., It all provides new layers to the three characters we meet along the way and Opal herself. My personal favorite is “Easy to Breath” in which Opal’s chain-smoking grandfather explains to her that everyone on the TV is just like him and loves him. Each song tells the story of all the characters coping mechanisms with the misery of their unhealthy lives. The grandfather indulges in TV to deal with the fact he is unloved and forgotten, The Father doesn’t stop doing himself up for the fear of being rejected by the outside world again and The Mother clings onto her daughter for help and hope as she carries on popping pills and drinking her way to death. Something this bleak should not be as fun as it is.

I personally loved Opal, it’s definitely the best short I’ve seen in all of 2020, a modern-day pitch-black twist on Coraline made for those who grew up with it and others of its ilk. This helps further solidify Stauber as a noteworthy rising talent and with Warner Bros and Adult Swim Backing him, there’s hope that bigger projects are coming from him hopefully sooner rather than later.

5/5 Watched on Adult Swim's YouTube Channel.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OPAL

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