Jan Švankmajer at 85 years of age is one of the most prominent artists of European cinema. His work has inspired and guided generations of directors, and his work represents a sharp and merciless exploration of human nature which is entirely unique. When Švankmajer decided to stop filming after Insect (2018), his producer suggested that the creative processes which ferment within their film company Athanor should be preserved on film.Read More »
AMG: In this animated feature-length movie, five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor (originally five separate “shorts” created between 1971-1974) get him mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life. As Sinbad triumphs over adversity, parents should be warned that some scenes of unexpected cruelty and questionable ethics (the Old Man of the Sea has his head crushed while he is too drunk to know what he is doing), may not be the best fare for smaller totsRead More »
An elderly paper-crusher branded a fool in Prague secretly stashes condemned books, preserving their contents and extrapolating from them eccentric scenarios of wit.Read More »
Adam’s and Eve’s epic journey throughout history trying to find the meaning of human life. Do we grow in wisdom as centuries pass, or just drift towards an inevitable doom?Read More »
A girl strays into the dreamy deep sea world. In the deepest part of the sea, all secrets are hidden.Read More »
How can you not love a psychedelic animated kids’ film in which a young boy, bored with the dreary and gray Adult World, follows an enchanted tadpole through the drain in his bathtub – where he discovers a surreal and musical undersea world?? Populated by singing (and barely dressed) Mermaids, a funky hepcat Octopus and whiskey-drinking Skeleton Pirates, the underwater kingdom is the grooviest scene this side of YELLOW SUBMARINE, with helpings of Dr. Seuss, Sid & Marty Krofft and Harry Nilsson’s THE POINT thrown in. (Kids’ entertainment in the early 1970s was truly outtasite!) In addition to the candy-colored, kaleidoscopic visuals, the film is famed for its incredibly addictive soundtrack featuring Jazz heavyweights of Copenhagen circa 1970, with vocals sung by the cream of Danish 60s Pop and Rock including Peter Belli, Otto Brandenburg, Poul Dissing and Trille on tracks like “Octopussong/ Blækspruttesangen” and “seahorsesong/ Søhestesangen”. Read More »
Synopsis
The My Road series—Scarlet Road (2002), White Road (2003), Indigo Road (2006), and the most recent instalment Lemon Road (2008)—can be read as meditations on loss and mourning. These poetic films tell their story through motif, character expression, music and montage and require repeated viewing for one to absorb the subtly evoked layers of meaning.
(Source: Midnight Eye)Read More »
Gauche, a struggling cellist in a small orchestra, is inspired by his interactions with animals to gain insight into music.Read More »
