Fires of Serenity

Watch Yourself

World of Wildlife #357

Directed by James Pyle

2022

A trio of micro-shorts come courtesy of award-winning filmmaker James Pyle who returns with a mix of comedy, live-action and parody films made in the Midlands.

First up is Fires of Serenity which is a 1-minute animated short that sees a well-dressed old man in a bow tie read aloud from a book whilst sitting in a fire. A literal fire.

Riffing between “fireside” story-time shows (like a dark Jackanory of sorts) and a self-help calming seminar, Pyle’s script welcomes the viewer into “a warming positive flame”.

A black-humour twist however sees our narrator suddenly realise he’s burning to death and thus delivering anything but the tranquil advice he set out to. And a final reveal shows Pyle’s devilish sense of humour as he presents the audience with who is actually watching this show.

Next is Watch Yourself which moves away from Pyle’s animation but keeps his cartoony sense of humour. Here, the director himself plays a man in a commercial attempting to sell a watch.

Playing it straight, Pyle’s excellent American accent used by his presenter character Al Wrist parodies the sort of dumb infomercials seen on late night TV as he peddles this "futuristic" timepiece.

The short reminded me of YouTubers Auralnauts (which is no bad thing) with its parody of quick cutting adverts and over-the-top narration, often as a host attempts to sell cut-price garbage.

Last but not least is World of Wildlife #357 which, like the others here, finds it comedy by lampooning TV show formats. This time being the wildlife documentary.

A hypnotic monkey with a Brummie accent works with an elephant to control the game hunter that is watching them. Sadly, this is super-short clocking in at under 40 seconds and could have done with a bit more content to make it truly come to life.

In the end, Pyle has again delivered some more laugh-out-loud comedy skits. The biggest gripe you could accuse them of is actually for being too short. Coming in at under 1 minute each, the quick-fire nature means they’re often over just as they begin. That said, they never overstay their welcome.

More surprising though is the director’s acting prowess. For someone known for long working days behind the camera creating and animating, Pyle delivers an all-too-brief but hilarious spoof of USA advert hosts. And I hope to see more of this in future from the funny filmmaker (and now actor).

★★★★☆

Michael Sales