‘Canvas’
If you have nine minutes to spare, don’t miss Canvas on Netflix, a wonderful new animated short film from director Frank E. Abney III. If you’ve been admiring the animation in Pixar’s upcoming film Soul, you can at least partially thank Abney, a Pixar animator whose work also includes Toy Story 4, Coco, and more. His talents are on full display in Canvas, a sweet tale of an elderly artist mourning the death of his wife, unable to find the motivation to paint. You get two gorgeous animation styles wrapped up in one nine-minute film—your more traditional Pixar take for the present-day story; and a more innovative, elegant style of moving paint on canvas for the artist’s memories. And it’s a sweet moral to boot: We cannot find our inspiration alone.