The Animated Black Short ‘Canvas’ From Netflix Is The Best Holiday Film Of The Season
By: Rod T. Faulkner
Tags: Entertainment, Netflix, Television, Holidays, Culture

I confess: I do not enjoy most holiday-themed movies.

Their manufactured sentimentality and saccharine cheer rings hollow to me. No matter how unintentional, they reek of hypocrisy in light of how awful and unkind human beings are to each other.

Watching movies about lovelorn and/or heart-hardened people magically transformed into Scrooge after his “come-to-Christmas moment” seems egregiously disingenuous in light of the raging bonfire 2020 continues to be.

So, it is no wonder the best holiday film I have watched in recent memory is not a holiday film at all.

Brought to my attention by the virtual grapevine that is Black Twitter, I queued up Netflix to watch a nine-minute animated short called Canvas.

Image embed by author.

It was the best nine minutes of my life I have spent in quite some time.

This dialogue-free, animated gem tells the story of an elderly, wheelchair-bound painter who is mourning the loss of his beloved wife.

His profound grief has robbed him of his passion for painting.

The sadness from him is palpable whenever he passes by his wife’s closet, filled with her clothing. The only rays of sunshine warming his heart are the frequent visits he receives from his young granddaughter.

His grandchild seems to be a nascent artist herself, as he beams at her drawings she makes for him. However, gray clouds return to envelop him after she returns home at the end of each day.

Image credit: Netflix

During one fateful visit, she stumbles upon a painting of her grandmother. When the artist discovers her with the painting, he relives fond memories of his spouse and their blissful life together.

His granddaughter’s discovery will change his life.

Canvas is, in a word, magnificent.

The short was written and directed by Frank E. Abney III, a former animator for Pixar, as well as an executive producer of the groundbreaking, Oscar-winning short Hair Love by Michael Cherry.

Like Hair Love, Canvas is a animated story by a Black filmmaker centering a Black family. The short film shines due to Abney’s talent and pedigree. The story is compelling and resonant; the animation is gorgeous.

Meticulous details such as the painter’s majestic mane of white hair, the characters’ rich, caramel skin tones, their ultra-expressive eyes and faces, and the short’s palette of warm and inviting colors, all work in concert to draw you inexorably into the narrative.

Image credit: Netflix

The emotional context of the story is relayed by the characters’ body language sans any dialogue: the sorrowful looks in the artist’s almond eyes. His daughter’s kiss of concern and the granddaughter’s infectious smiles and hugs of pure joy.

Canvas is a beautiful, affecting portrait of a man living with bereavement, but whose passion for his art is resurrected by love he both remembers and receives from his devoted family.

It is another brilliant testament to the necessity of Black narratives by Black storytellers being told - and also to their universality, because our stories are also human stories.

The short’s powerful messaging is representative of the true spirit of the holidays. So do yourself a favor, fire up Netflix, and watch Canvas. It is a viewing experience certain to brighten your heart and uplift your soul.

Happy Holidays.