The saddest short film I've ever seen

May 18, 2011 10:12 AM

Looking for a short animated film -- possibly from a Spike n' Mike's collection. I think it's called The Gift or something like that. The main character is a man who lives by himself in some barren, isolated place -- probably outer space. His only companion is a sorta-anthropomorphized tomato plant. The man is starving and has nothing to eat. When his back is turned, the tomato plant produces a tomato, but he doesn't see it, so he (sadly, reluctantly) eats the tomato plant. Later, he sees the tomato and realizes that he didn't have to eat his friend. This is the saddest film ever! Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I've been looking for it forever, but can't seem to find it. Any idea what it's called or where I can find it?
posted by Afroblanco to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Slim Pickings: The first was his short claymation film, Slim Pickings, about a hungry guy in a lonely house in a bleak junkyard landscape.
posted by iconomy at 10:38 AM on May 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: On Youtube!
posted by iconomy at 10:39 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Holy shit! THANK YOU!!!!!

(still brings tears to my eyes)
posted by Afroblanco at 11:02 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's not just that he consumed his only friend - he also destroyed his only sustainable food source, condemning himself to slow death!
posted by nanojath at 11:41 AM on May 18, 2011

Damn - that was WAY more traumatic to watch then I guessed from your description (and a poor choice of viewing while eating a salad).

IMDB link
posted by rongorongo at 1:28 PM on May 18, 2011

Jesus Christ. That's it, I'm only ever eating meat from now on.
posted by Decani at 7:33 AM on May 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Argh, sorry, I forgot this was an AskMe. Glad to have seen that little film, all the same.
posted by Decani at 7:34 AM on May 19, 2011