Ryan (summary)

Ryan, the short film directed by Chris Landreth is a film about the life of Ryan Larkin who is a critically acclaimed computer animator. In the film, Landreth's digitally animated version of Larkin is a highly unstable, emotional artist who is nearly always on the brink of collapse. Ryan sits down and speaks with different people who have been important to his life. Chris Landreth is the other primary character in the film who speaks to Ryan about his past accomplishments and his current state of being, which is not a good one due to his recent addiction to cocaine and current alcoholic tendencies. Ryan was abused by his father as a child and affected by his mother's alcoholism which ultimately brought her to her death. We learn that Ryan's first animated film to receive public praise was "Walking" which was released in 1969. In fact, Ryan received an Academy Award nomination for this short film. Just three years later, in 1972, Ryan released his last film, "Street Musique." It was at this time that he stopped creating. He felt as though there was no point in him making anything anymore because noone would ever buy his creations and therefore, he was never going to earn any money from his career. Disheartened and hopeless, Ryan turned to drugs and booze and ended up becoming a begger on the streets at the film's end.