Rob Munday
In most neighbourhoods around the world there’ll be that one creepy resident who no-one understands. That man or woman who does something a little strange, so is instantly labelled a “freak” or an “outsider”, but did you ever really stop to consider that maybe what makes them different isn’t a bad thing. In Jon Portman’s distinct animated short Ex Creta we’re served up a steaming pile of morality as we’re presented with an extreme example of why you should never judge a book by its cover – even if that book is picking up dog sh*t and putting it on a plate!
Set largely in the apartment of three roommates, the trio spend their time spying on an odd man who walks the streets of their area with his cute little fluffy dog. As the reason they are all so fascinated with this eccentric character is revealed, we’re sent on a journey of disgust, discovery and somehow a little Disney magic. Despite feeling quite dark throughout, Ex Creta ends on a slightly sweet, yet stinky, final note, making quite the impact with its positive message and unusual storyline.
The three roomies in Ex Creta watch their unusual neighbour and jump to some quick conclusions about his admittedly off behaviour
With such a strange narrative at its core, we were eager to find out how Portman came up with the premise of Ex Creta and were surprised to find out it came from a real-life situation. As the owner of two big dogs, one of which is a puppy, the director says he spends a large majority of his days “wandering around the streets of San Francisco, sleep-deprived and in sweatpants, while I shuttle around large quantities of poop in little green bags”. Out walking his hounds one day, Portman admits he was in “a particularly delirious state of mind” and somehow got into the thought-process of wondering “if there was a more productive use of this excreta”. Thankfully, he didn’t follow through with any ideas to put this poop to use, but this brainwave did inspire the premise for what he describes as “an extremely off-putting short film”.
“My goals were simple: to create the greatest, most unnecessary poop joke of all time”
On the surface Ex Creta feels like a piece of crude humour aiming for the lowest denominator with potty humour and an off-kilter aesthetic. However, once you’ve let the shock factor of Portman’s film evaporate, you start to see what a surprisingly layered piece of filmmaking it really is. “Within the film, there are ruminations on cancel culture, a commentary on the beautifully terrifying power of social media, and an unexpected twist to boot”, the director explains. And he’s not wrong! The reflections it makes on society and its relationship with social media feel sharp and accurate and its use of dark humour is the perfect tool to talk to those who it directly references. Although we’re praising Ex Creta for its complexity here, its creator is still eager to point out that his main aim was “to create the greatest, most unnecessary poop joke of all time”.
“Like most of my films, Ex Creta is rooted in a mixed-media 2D animation workflow” – Portman discussing his production methods.
There’s certainly an unsettling feel about Ex Creta and a lot of the credit there has to go to the warped visuals of the short. Though Portman describes the production as “a bit messy and all over the place” it works, as visually (and of course narratively) this is a film that really stands out for trying something different. Featuring hand-drawn backgrounds, which are inhabited by Modigliani-inspired characters (the director admits his character designs are all “digital Frankensteins” of the Italian artist’s portraits), the world Portman creates is an odd caricature of real-life, which only helps to elevate the message of the film.
Ex Creta is weird, there’s no denying it, but here at Short of the Week we believe short film is where filmmakers can take risks and try something unusual. Portman’s film does that on a number of levels and even if it is just one big “unnecessary poop joke” we enjoyed it so much we wanted to scoop it up and put it on a plate for you. Enjoy 💩.