My Year of Dicks (2022)
My Year of Dicks Review
My Year of Dicks is a 2022 animated short film directed by Sara Gunnarsdottir and written by Pamela Ribon. It is a film that is very limited in its appeal.
It’s 1991, and Pam – a stubborn, imaginative 15-year-old from the outskirts of Houston – embarks on a comedic journey of disappointment and self-discovery as she seeks the right boy to lose her virginity with. Similar to Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’ from this same year, this movie is very much also intended to be enjoyed by female viewers. They can relate to a film about female sexuality whereas I as a guy cannot. It seemed too confined in that regard.
My Year of Dicks is very stylized in its animation and also quite varied. There are significant anime-inspired stretches that were brought in when the movie called for comedy. Those were terrific. But the vast majority of the film is done in rotoscoping, which made it eerily reminiscent of animated movies directed by Richard Linklater. The score, editing and directing are all excellent in this technically accomplished, but otherwise flawed film that failed to register emotionally speaking due to its weaker characterization. The plot that was broken down in chapters was also too standard and overly personal, though the live-action segments that act as introductions were quite memorable.
