Balance

1989 0h 7m DE

🙌

7.5

BANGER

★7.5TMDB · 151

DramaAnimation

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The setting is on a floating platform where a group of evenly and carefully placed men live. Each man is aware that the platform is not stable and in order not to fall to their deaths, they maintain a careful balance of weight to prevent the platform from tipping too far and cause them all to fall.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Night Flight PlusSubscription

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christoph Lauenstein
Writers: Christoph Lauenstein, Wolfgang Lauenstein
Languages: No Language
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 4

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 7-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 4

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 4

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 4

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0096880 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christoph Lauenstein directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 7-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
237 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4IMDB entry: tt0096880 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
5Classified under 8 themes, including "politics", "greed", "surrealism", "stop motion".

The technical file

Runtime: 7 min · 0h 7m
Status: Released
Original language: DE
Certification (US): 6
IMDB: Balance (1989)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Christoph Lauenstein

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-06
★ 7/10
Anyone remember British clay animator Tony Hart and his "Morph" creation? Well these gents doing the balancing act here reminded me rather of a taller version of him. They must constantly change position to counter balance the pivoted platform on which they exist. In a rare moment of equilibrium, they start to fish and one catches what looks like a safe. Redistributing their weight accordingly, each have a go at evaluating the object and slowly discover it has a wind-up mechanism. When one of their number concludes it's of no value and wants to let it slide back into the abyss, a series of contretemps ensue resulting in a solution that seems hard to quite fathom! There's some meticulous planning gone into this and it's quite imaginatively played out as this wholly inanimate object sows it's own sort of discord. Mind you, it must have been quite a dull existence!

Production companies