Takeshi Murata And Christopher Rutledge’s ‘Larry’ Lets The Dogs Out (To Play Basketball)

Takeshi Murata and Christopher Rutledge’s trippy and metaphysical work, Larry, about a basketball-playing dog is a must-see.

Combining five mini shorts and accompanied by a snappy soundtrack from Black Dice and DJ Taco Fiesta, Larry celebrates a basketball-obsessed dog who melts, re-forms,
dances, stumbles, splits, and transforms into various creatures — all while executing exaggerated basketball moves.

Technical mindfuckery aside (the film was made with SideFX’s Houdini), Larry is also a spot-on take on the fleeting nature of the present while reminding us that identity is not stagnant, but a constantly evolving and fluid entity. Larry is everything you want and rarely get in animation: an absurd, hilarious, philosophical work that ignores all manner of reality and physics.

Rutledge is a cg artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His previous works include Caution (co-directed with Cole Kush, 2022), The Loaf Zone (2018), and Cosmophones (co-directed with Dan Streit, 2022).

Murata, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), is a contemporary artist who exhibits frequently and whose previous shorts include I, Popeye (2010), OM Rider (2013), and Monster Movie (2015). His work is included in the permanent collections of SFMOMA, the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Larry was commissioned by Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, with support from SuperTopSecret, Rudy Adler, and Sashaku.