Michael Brooke
19-10-2001, 13:45
I'm still trying to gather all the thoughts whirling around my head into a coherent review, which I hope will be up today, but Jan Svankmajer's fourth feature is just <U>stunning</U>.
Not only is it unquestionably the most disturbing and unsettling mutant baby film since <I>Eraserhead</I>, it's also a ruthlessly clear-eyed dissection of everything surrounding the whole issue of family life, from the creation of babies in the first place through their care and nurture during infancy and childhood, and the need to protect them both from unwanted outside attentions (the paedophile subplot is as unnerving as anything in <I>Happiness</I> or <I>Lolita</I>, especially when the man's flies appear to unbutton themselves) and indeed from themselves.
The story revolves around two families, the Horáks, who desperately want a baby, and the Stadlers, who have a little girl of their own but who don't really know what to do with her. And when the Horáks solve their problem by literally making a baby of their own out of a tree stump, young Alzbetka finds that she has a friend for the first time, even if he is a cannibalistic mutant tree-baby creature (although <I>Little Otik</I> is a vastly more sophisticated and intellectually coherent piece of work, fans of Frank Henenlotter's <I>Basket Case</I> films will feel right at home here) whose life seems to parallel that of the traditional Czech fairytale of Otesánek (the film's Czech title), about a child who can't stop eating.
The practically non-stop grotesquerie of the images and ideas will come as no surprise to anyone who's seen even one of Svankmajer's earlier films, but what's genuinely new here is a powerful emotional undercurrent. The tragedy of <I>Little Otik</I> is that everyone has a perfectly sound reason for their actions that comes from the most primitive and fundamental desires - the Horáks need a baby, Alzbetka needs a friend, Otik needs food.
Like his great Surrealist predecessor Luis Bunuel, Svankmajer is an absolute master of dream-logic - everything that happens in the film, no matter how weird, is absolutely logical and consistent. Indeed, one of the things that makes this by far his most involving film to date is that all his characters have their own motives and justifications for their actions, and even the most outrageous acts of violence (and there's at least one truly spectacular gross-out moment that will have fans of <I>Braindead</I> cheering) can be traced back to basically good intentions.
And Svankmajer is as prodigiously inventive as ever, not just in the individual animated set-pieces but also the more basic film arts - his jarring, aggressive editing style remains amongst the most distinctive of any film-maker currently working. Even though it's outwardly a lot more conventional than his wilder efforts - it has a totally linear narrative, recognisable human characters with names, personalities and even dialogue (in Svankmajer's native Czech) - you could guess the director from just five seconds' exposure to almost any scene.
More later, though I'll try to avoid spoilers - the less you know about this film in advance, the better! (That said, even though I'd read a fair chunk of the script, <U>nothing</U> can prepare you for a Svankmajer film - I could describe the whole thing in graphic detail and it would still take you by surprise)
Not only is it unquestionably the most disturbing and unsettling mutant baby film since <I>Eraserhead</I>, it's also a ruthlessly clear-eyed dissection of everything surrounding the whole issue of family life, from the creation of babies in the first place through their care and nurture during infancy and childhood, and the need to protect them both from unwanted outside attentions (the paedophile subplot is as unnerving as anything in <I>Happiness</I> or <I>Lolita</I>, especially when the man's flies appear to unbutton themselves) and indeed from themselves.
The story revolves around two families, the Horáks, who desperately want a baby, and the Stadlers, who have a little girl of their own but who don't really know what to do with her. And when the Horáks solve their problem by literally making a baby of their own out of a tree stump, young Alzbetka finds that she has a friend for the first time, even if he is a cannibalistic mutant tree-baby creature (although <I>Little Otik</I> is a vastly more sophisticated and intellectually coherent piece of work, fans of Frank Henenlotter's <I>Basket Case</I> films will feel right at home here) whose life seems to parallel that of the traditional Czech fairytale of Otesánek (the film's Czech title), about a child who can't stop eating.
The practically non-stop grotesquerie of the images and ideas will come as no surprise to anyone who's seen even one of Svankmajer's earlier films, but what's genuinely new here is a powerful emotional undercurrent. The tragedy of <I>Little Otik</I> is that everyone has a perfectly sound reason for their actions that comes from the most primitive and fundamental desires - the Horáks need a baby, Alzbetka needs a friend, Otik needs food.
Like his great Surrealist predecessor Luis Bunuel, Svankmajer is an absolute master of dream-logic - everything that happens in the film, no matter how weird, is absolutely logical and consistent. Indeed, one of the things that makes this by far his most involving film to date is that all his characters have their own motives and justifications for their actions, and even the most outrageous acts of violence (and there's at least one truly spectacular gross-out moment that will have fans of <I>Braindead</I> cheering) can be traced back to basically good intentions.
And Svankmajer is as prodigiously inventive as ever, not just in the individual animated set-pieces but also the more basic film arts - his jarring, aggressive editing style remains amongst the most distinctive of any film-maker currently working. Even though it's outwardly a lot more conventional than his wilder efforts - it has a totally linear narrative, recognisable human characters with names, personalities and even dialogue (in Svankmajer's native Czech) - you could guess the director from just five seconds' exposure to almost any scene.
More later, though I'll try to avoid spoilers - the less you know about this film in advance, the better! (That said, even though I'd read a fair chunk of the script, <U>nothing</U> can prepare you for a Svankmajer film - I could describe the whole thing in graphic detail and it would still take you by surprise)