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From the legendary Czechoslovakian animator/filmmaker Jan Svankmajer comes OTESANEK, a singularly twisted, surreal look at childbearing and the unavoidable…and, in this case, extremely unpleasant…responsibilities that come with it. Set to be released in early 2002, this is one to put on your calendar. |
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The PackageStarting with 1964äs ÜThe Last Trick,¹ Jan Svankmajer has made a number of consistently fascinating, bizarre animated shorts, including classics like ÜDimensions of Dialogue¹ (in which claymation heads tear apart and devour each other) and Üthe Flat¹ (a man finds himself trapped in an apartment whose furniture has a mind of its own). His first foray into feature filmmaking was ALICE (1987), an eye-popping (though cluttered) interpretation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. He followed this with the even more astonishing FAUST (1994) and CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE (1996). His latest feature, OTESANEK, is his most accessible feature to date…it may not be quite as potent as his previous three, but it does represent the work of a steadily maturing filmmaker. |
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The StoryA seemingly happy couple, unable to conceive a child, finds a solution (of sorts) to their dilemma when the husband carves a child out of a tree trunk. The wife takes to ÜLittle Otik¹ a bit too readily, and even goes so far as to stuff a series of pillows in her shirts in order to perpetuate the illusion that sheäs pregnant. As you might have guessed, the inanimate Otik doesnät stay that way for long, coming to squalling life and devouring everything in sight‡including gallons of milk, mounds of pork, the mailman and most of the residents of his parentsä apartment! And then thereäs the too-inquisitive little girl, her constantly bickering parents, the apathetic old lady who plants cabbages behind the apartment and the old Czech fable of ÜOtesanek,¹ which has quite a few disturbing parallels to Little Otikäs own story‡ Okay. As you can probably see, the film is overstuffed. Yes, folks, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing--still, the film is never boring.
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The DirectionSvankmajer, as anyone whoäs seen FAUST or CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE knows, likes close-ups, particularly of vile and grotesque things. In this case sloppy, runny foods--the people in this film eat constantly, and everything they consume is mush--are the objects of choice. He also utilizes a surreal aural mix that pinpoints certain sounds and deliberately leaves others out altogether (this is one film that definitely demands to be seen on a big screen with a top-flight sound system!). Svankmajer also manages to find outlets for his animation genius, most obviously in the twitching figure of Little Otik, but also in the side-splitting commercials that pop up throughout the film, which portray stop motion vacuum cleaners and other household appliances. Overall Iäd say the film, in conjunction with its story, is a mite bloated and, at a numbing 125 minutes, overlong. Thatäs not to say Svankmajer doesnät know how to hold our interest, just that he needs a better editor. |
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Vital StatisticsOTESANEK (a.k.a. LITTLE OTIK) 
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