The Fan and the Flower (2005)

Wow, Dan O'Shannon, what an exquisite, will-be-a-classic, little story you wrote, and narrated by one of my favorite actors, Paul Giamatti. I thought the narrative of the story transcended the sentimental ingeniously by having an ordinary ceiling fan as your story's protagonist and his love interest a diminutive, nondescript (for a time) potted plant. Their spiritual copulation reminded me of Donne's famous poem "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning":If they be two, they are two so / As stiff twin compasses are two; / Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show / To move, but doth, if th' other do. //And though it in the centre sit, / Yet when the other far doth roam, / It leans and hearkens after it, / And grows erect, as that comes home.//Such wilt thou be to me, who must / Like th' other foot, obliquely run; / Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun. I only wish The Fan and the Flower were in book form too, so I could read it to my grandkids...I would set it alongside George Saunders' The Very Persistent Gappers of Fripp. They'd love it! And I love your TV shows, Dan--Modern Family and all the rest--but I hope you also give us more of these gems...what a gift, thank you! And thank you for dropping in on my sister's class tonight in the snow! Your presence was magical and inspiring. :) Mary 3/30/2011

Wonderful short film from Bill Plympton.The plot is simple a fan and a flower fall in love. To say more than that would spoil one of the most charming animated films ever made.Told with simple black and white lines this is a film that will move you. Its a simple tale told perfectly. I know when the film ended I was upset that it didn't continue on. The wishing of that was pure greed on my part since the film is exactly as long as it needs to be. there are no grand flourishes or showy pieces. Its simple economy.See this film. More importantly see this film with some one you love since in its way it will say more about how you feel then words can express

An old lady lives in a house and her houseplant and ceiling fan somehow fall in love. In the end, the ceiling fan kills itself to save the life of its beloved fading houseplant. I kid you not--this REALLY is the plot of this short film!! I know a lot of people liked this film because it gave them a nice furry feeling, but this bothered me for two major reasons. First, the idea of a houseplant falling in love with a ceiling fan is just stupid. Sure, I can suspend disbelief--but not THAT far! Second, I am a fan (perhaps a bad choice of words!) of the work of Bill Plympton and this sure didn't seem anything like classic Plympton!! Instead of the usual wonderful colored pencil shading, the film was almost completely in black and white outlines. Additionally, the sick and irreverent sense of humor usually in his film is replaced by schmaltz--pure saccharine which is something I never want when I sit down to watch a Plypton film. Instead, give me weirdness, violence and cynicism--that's why many people have grown to love the man!! What we have here is a rather dumb but mildly interesting film...and nothing more.By the way, on the new DVD "Dog Days", this short is included along with Plympton's dog series. However, there are no closed captions or subtitles--a serious concern for me because my deaf daughter loved the dog films (they need no word) but I had to translate as she watched this one. What a pain.

This is departure from Bill Plympton's usual work, which is not to say that his cadre of fans won't find it equally enjoyable.It is a charming little film depicting the unlikely romance between a ceiling fan and a potted flower. I know how odd that sounds but this engaging film makes it work. The cute little old lady shown only in silhouette reminds me of my own grandmother. And the sacrifice and twist at the end make for an enjoyable pay-off.You can get it over at www.Filmporium.com. The $5 DVD also includes the frustrated rodent tale "Gopher Broke" and the appealing short "The Hill Farm".