In a Heartbeat (2017)

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

An unique connection is established between two souls who decide to spend their human lives together. Such a feeling of love, knowing that someone cares and looks for you, is hard to equal. So, there is this search in life when we try to find our "soulmate", an experience worth remembering and cherishing. Everyone can love.

Within 4 minutes, I felt a whim of emotions that most hour long movies can't open my mind and heart to. The animation is eye candy and the symbolism is very poetic.Another truly wonderful thing this film accomplished is that given the political topic of LGBT support, this film innocently opens not only our minds, but also our hearts to those who do face unnecessary judgment for something as innocent as a grade school crush. And to establish such a strong defense with 0 dialog is beyond incredible.I recommend everyone to not only watch this but to spread it to as many friends as you can. Share the beauty and love that this film offers

And this is not art. This is just another short film in the current trend of "let's make animated films that are basically kids movies but sell them to teenagers and young adults because they feel nostalgic for Pixar and haven't yet found out what good cinema is" except that this has a gay twist which means if you hate it, clearly you must be a conservative asshole. But really what does this 'short film' bring to the table? There have been countless short films about young (gay) lovers and there have been probably even more good animated short films that actually try a new style. This just is as clichéd as it gets, just imitate Pixar, make it gay and voila you just tricked the masses who have no appreciation for cinema or short films into thinking "RIGHT WINGERS WILL HATE THIS, THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE". The gag with the heart popping out was kinda cute but the whole love story went way too fast and was predictable the whole way through. Spend your 4 minutes on any other short movie you find.

"In a Heartbeat" is a very new (2017) animated short film and the first filmmaking credit for writers and directors Bravo and David. If I see it correctly, this managed almost 3 million views on a single day after its upload on Youtube. It shows though that you don't need to excel on a high level in order to get famous. It probably also helps that no dialogue is in here, so no matter which languages you (don't) speak, you can watch and understand it. The story may seem sweet with a school boy falling in love with his school mate and being scared of how everybody may find out about the crush. Now, I am not even sure if the filmmakers wanted to emphasize homosexuality in here because the situation may have been equally embarrassing for him had his love interest been a girl, but yeah lets just say depicting the other kids subtly as homophobes is not hurting the film's popularity. Sadly it is messages like these about teenagers allegedly growing up as homophobes that really fuel the last remaining bits of homophobia in our utterly tolerant society. I would not even say the filmmakers are necessarily to blame for it as I am not sure to which extent they foresaw the way people would perceive certain moments here. The happy end feels forced to me and not entirely realistic, more on the gooey, for-the-sake-of-it side, but that's just subjective thinking. I found it a fairly kitschy film overall, also with the graphic depiction of the heart and how it broke. Not convinced by anything except the visual side. I am sure this will not stay the only filmmaking credit by the duo who made this and here's hoping they can step things up a bit in the story-telling department. They made a smart decision here because homosexuality in animation is almost non-existent until now and it got many curious about this really short film, but it is nothing more than an extremely fragile foundation for a long career in the industry. Not recommended.