WorkMotion

Albatross Soup is a beautiful but ultimately chilling riddle: Can you solve it?

I’ve never been good at riddles: those sort of problems that generally seem to involve cabbages, goats, boats and the like are utterly baffling.

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So it was interesting to see one such riddle brought toile in such a beautiful, beguiling and psychedelic way by director Winnie Cheung, a Hong Kong-born, Queens-raised, Brooklyn based filmmaker who frequently collaborates with artists across various disciplines, using illustration, animation, and dance to “place the corporeal body within surreal spaces.”

Her recent film Albatross Soup scooped a Vimeo Staff Pick and tells a story based on the real-life riddle Albatross Soup, where one is asked "A man goes into a restaurant and orders albatross soup. After he eats, he goes outside and shoots himself. Why?"

Throughout the colourful, swirling animation and polyphony of voices garnered from interviews with more than 50 people trying to solve the riddle asking only answers that could be answered “yes” or “no”, the short uses a rapid-fire kaleidoscopic soundscape and god-like voice providing clues as to whether the guessers are along the right track.

A warning: things get pretty dark; though this is somewhat mitigated by the mesmerising, swirling animation style and lysergic rainbows of the visuals as the story unfurls.

“I knew instantly that this stream of consciousness guessing game would be the perfect premise for an animated short,” says Cheung. “Examining different creative approaches has been the driving force behind this project.”

We won’t give the game away—just watch it—but things are pretty disturbing, but in being so, incredibly beautiful.

Stylised sunset landscape with tall dark green cacti, pink sky and a figure standing alone on sandy ground in Winnie Cheung's animation for Albatross Soup
Vibrant animated scene showing a large red rock formation with "ALBATROSS" text dripping in yellow against a magenta sky, reflected in blue water below
Four pale yellow albatrosses perch on a purple rocky island surrounded by blue sea and white waves against a vibrant pink sky
Animated character with purple face and yellow features wearing green, mouth open in surprise against swirling pink, orange and yellow striped background
Stylised illustration of a white bird with magenta markings and an orange beak against a dark teal background with green and yellow curved shapes
Two illustrated figures with exaggerated features against a dark blue background, one in magenta holding a curved blade aloft, the other in burgundy with horns and a skull-like face
A magenta-coloured creature with a yellow beak surrounded by stylised blue and green foliage and floating eyeballs in Winnie Cheung's animated film Albatross Soup
Colourful animated character with magenta hair and orange skin gestures expressively against a dark blue background, holding a small orange object
Hand holding an orange circular object with a mint-green border containing a small skull illustration, set against a dark blue background
Animated character with magenta beard and yellow nose holds binoculars to his face with a concerned expression against a dark blue background
Colourful animated illustration showing figures in various poses on a bright pink background with turquoise rectangular shapes, featuring characters with yellow and green tones in a surreal, playful style
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