Topic: Brickfilm of the Week: The Hand of Fate (Jan 23, 2015)
This week’s Brickfilm of the Week is The Hand of Fate by Dave Corbett.
The Hand of Fate follows the story of Phil, a man who keeps seeing giant hands attacking his friends. It was made in 2004 and was an entry into the A Peculiar Event contest hosted on Brickfilms.com. It ultimately won first place. Dave Corbett, more commonly known as Digi_Dave, was an active member on Brickfilms.com during the site’s early years. He made only one other film, The Customer is Always Right.
Watch The Hand of Fate on YouTube
SPOILERY DISCUSSION BELOW!
Generally, I believe you can divide brickfilms into two distinct camps. The first camp uses LEGO as a filmmaking and storytelling medium, and generally doesn’t acknowledge it’s LEGO-ness (Unrenewable, Good Company, Alex and Derrick: Five Years Later). The second camp embraces it’s LEGO-ness and often also embraces that it’s a stop-motion film (Plastic Love, Copyright, even The LEGO Movie). The Hand of Fate is firmly in the second camp, and while it probably isn’t the first example of this type of brickfilm, it is one of the earliest, and one of the best. The animation is solid and the story told throughout is clever. The Hand of Fate was warmly recieved when it was first released, and Dave went on to reprise his “Professor” voice in Robert Frost’s Cold Comfort.
What are your thoughts on The Hand of Fate? What did you like about it? Did you have a favorite moment? How does it compare to other “LEGO-ness embracing” brickfilms?
