The Old Fools

It begins with the sound of wheezing and the sight of lightly drawn fingers knitting. This will be about age, old age, the last bastion of denial. The narrator will not be gentle, as the images reflect boredom and futility. Life's cruel joke is being revealed, finally. There is no point; there never was.

The words are by Philip Larkin and the reading by Bob Geldof. The first are bitter, raw, truthful, unflinching and the second is melodious, with a sweet Irish lilt.

The animation uses multifaceted techniques to good effect, allowing the shapes to slide in and out of each other, as the poem cuts deep into the soft flesh of misplaced sentiment.

It may be a tough message, but the skill of the animators is never less than imaginative.