Review of Little Otik (2001) by Tyler R — 18 Jun 2006

I do believe Jan Svankmajer, the revered Czech animator, can make a great feature film. His puppetry is phenomenal, as well as his knack for sick, sarcastic humor. I love his short films. I can even appreciate his roughhewn filmmaking trademark (though mouth close-ups wear thin). But, after watching his two "greatest" films, I'm not sure if he has achieved his great feature-length film. Perhaps "Lunacy," his next film coming out in August, will be his masterpiece, or maybe, if I can find them easily, "Faust" or "Conspirators of Pleasure." Until then--two harsh reviews.

Some time ago, I received a copy of "Alice," his bizarre take on "Alice in Wonderland." Here, he showcases some of the most off-the-wall brilliant takes on the characters. The Caterpillar, in one of my favorite scenes, is represented by a talking sock that sews his eyes shut. The Queen and King are two-dimensional playing cards. The Mad Hatter is an antique wooden toy. In fact, this film is a classic example of a film that could, [i]really [/i]could have been a great film...with one exception. One exception that is extremely hard to overlook. As in the actual Lewis Carroll book, the "Wonderland" story in the film is read to Alice by her older sister. Every time a character speaks on film, it is Alice's sister's voice. Cut to a trademark mouth close-up as the sister says "...Said the White Rabbit." This happens, I repeat, EVERY TIME A CHARACTER SAYS SOMETHING. What makes it so awkward is that it's a needless cutaway back to the real world within a scene in Wonderland. Once we get it's a story, we get it. We don't have to be reminded every, oh, ten seconds. Not only that, but it's dubbed in English, so we are forced to watch the lips mouth in Czech all the time. Again, the film has so much going for it, and could have been phenomenal. But watching it straight through gets on your nerves [i]real [/i]fast. It's a shame, really. A damn shame.

Then, just last night, I watched "Little Otik," a much later Svankmajer film. It is a retelling of some European fairytale in which two infertile parents dig up a tree stump and treat it as their baby. The stump comes to life and soon starts to eat people. Keep in mind, I had no idea this was already a fairy tale coming in; in fact, I was about to hand it to Svankmajer for coming up with such a bizarre idea. But it doesn't matter--his animation is enough to keep my interest. It's mostly live-action, with sprinkles of animated sequences involving food, irons, and, of course, Little Otik. About an hour into it, I was ready to forgive Svankmajer for his lip fixation in "Alice." "Otik," if it played it's cards right, would have become another "Eraserhead.".

(SLIGHT SPOILERS).

Unfortunately, an annoying, shrill little girl (maybe it's just me, but I think most little girls on film are really irritating) becomes the main character when the film turns into a variation of "Little Shop of Horrors." The girl has sympathy for Otik, even though I've already decided that it's a monster and has no redeeming qualities, other than looking cool. (Oddly enough, once Otik becomes a bit more threatening, Svankmajer does less and less with animating him. He becomes the monster in a box or the room). As the film drags on and on, the only normal character to follow is a precocious girl who has some sort of attachment to this sick monster that we just are not supposed to understand. It's like "The Iron Giant," except we can't see any of the robot's warmer moments, he eats innocent people, and the kid is more annoying. I cannot stress this enough.

(END SPOILERS).

By the end of "Otik," it has worn out its welcome, and, like "Alice," becomes a grating experience. Watch his short films, and clips from his longer films. They seem to work better in out-of-context scenes, but not in their entirety. And it's a damn shame.