Eccentric but always funny, Welcome to 8th Street is a delight of a short film from Yoo Lee. It revels and never forgets the importance of community in society, even if that community is a touch odd – a very enjoyable short.
Yujin and Matt, a young couple from California, attempt to settle into their new home on Jersey City’s 8th Street, but their first encounter with Jimmy, the neighbourhood entrepreneur, doesn’t quite sit right with them. They try to dismiss their weariness over drinks at a local bar but only manage to receive more signs that something is a bit “off” on 8th Street.
Moving to a new area brings a flood of emotions. I hope this new place will be okay, that your neighbours will be pleasant and that you feel welcome, but also a lot of fear. You have left a place you probably felt safe and secure. You those around you, and everything was okay. What if this new neighbourhood is a disaster? What if you hate everyone? What if everyone hates you?
In Yoo Lee’s animated short, all those fears and more come to the fore for our Californian couple, now New Jersey residents. Their first encounter with Jimmy is an utter disaster in their eyes; they feel uncomfortable in the area. Have they made a terrible, terrible mistake?
The thing about neighbourhoods like 8th Street is that once you leave them, you desperately miss them. You can have the house in a better location, but that community feel dissipates into nothingness. You don’t know your neighbour; you barely speak to them. But in 8th Street, like my own, you know everyone; you chat away in the gardens for ages with them. You feel connected and, most importantly, more than a neighbour. Everyone at some point in their lives should reside in a place as tightly knit as 8th Street; it makes you wonder as a person, and the end of Welcome to 8th Street shows us that quite marvellously.
Utilising a puppetry style of stop-motion really allows for the humour and tone of Welcome to 8th Street hit home. You do not expect to see a car boot full of steaks at the start of the short. Neither is a character throwing and hitting a random turkey with one of those steaks. It is all so odd, but you find yourself all in with it.
With a bit of luck, Welcome to 8th Street would be perfect as a series; there is so much more to garner from the idea. Hopefully, the ball isn’t dropped, and we will miss out on something great in the future.
★★★ 1/2
The 19th HollyShorts Film Festival is running between 10th – 20th August with in person and digital screenings available through the 10th to 27th August.
For more information go to www.hollyshorts.com
Coverage of HollyShorts Film Festival 2023:
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