Andrew S Allen

Created during his stint in the Character Animation program at CalArts School of Film & Video, James Kim’s Pin Point is a beautifully sketched short in which a young girl is snatched away from her father’s funeral by a kind-looking orphanage caregiver who ends up being anything but caring or giving.

A finalist for the soon to be announced Audience Award for PBS’s 2nd Annual Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival, Pin Point is devoid of dialogue, instead communicating its message through the body language of its two main characters and the dark, gloomy shading that practically oozes from the screen.

Darkly comical, Pin Point visually tells the story of a newly orphaned girl who, upon arriving at the isolated and creepy orphanage, discovers that the caregiver is attempting to poison the children’s gruel. Taking matters into her own hands, the girl exacts revenge on the increasingly evil caregiver in a most unexpected way.

Kim’s animation has an almost chalk-drawn look to it, and he utilizes earth tones throughout the film to give the scenery an appearance not that far removed from the old “WANTED” posters from the 1800’s. As gloomy as Pin Point is, however, Kim offers light touches of color each time the young girl experiences a moment of love or hope or strength. These splashes of color seem, especially at the film’s end, to symbolize the young girl’s ultimate victory over evil.

Available for viewing on the website for PBS’s Emmy Award-winning series, Independent Lens, Pin Point, the debut film from James Kim, has also been seen at the Santa Clarita Film Festival