itch.io

Oh my STARS this one hits all my soft spots: I adore stories that feature well-intentioned scientific geniuses who end up lost in the sauce, and later attempt to course-correct when their ideas escape their intended scope (gotta love the hot-house flowers that bloom, and then are horrified to find themselves an invasive species!); and as the parent of a child who best thrives when her unique needs are recognized and met, Pavel's storyline absolutely shattered me. The art is simple but stunning, and the cinematography hits the sweet spot for me in terms of adding to the story with life and motion, without subtracting by being unnecessarily distracting and moving for movement's sake alone: there is never any question whose viewpoint the camera represents, nor does it ever seem to shift unnecessarily or to the detriment of the story itself. An extraordinary achievement, particularly given the constraints of the jam--brilliant, brilliant work!