Double Time: Streets of Crocodiles and Eastern European Animation

Streets of Crocodiles was definitely an experimental venture into surrealism, and as someone who really enjoys surrealism, it could have worked, but it didn't feel like it to me. The Quay brothers were clearly depicting the experiences of the original author and his life in the ghettos in a cerebral and indirect way instead of a typical three act structure. The stop motion, sets, and music of the film drove the narrative, surreal themes, imagery, and mood. Most of these techniques help communicate the film as someone viewing a nightmare, with many of the objects and organic things indistinguishable from each other (from Emily Macaux's article on DailyServing.com). It's supposed to be hard to follow and illiterate to the viewer but like the original author, Shulz once stated, "The essence of reality is meaning. What has no meaning is not real for us." and the reality that Shulz faced living in the ghettos of World War II are a surreal, grim place that the Quay brothers depicted in an uncomfortable way. Now, I personally don't like it because of how overt it was and having some quite pointless imagery (the phallic imagery had no point to it, otherwise I missed the point), even with its dark subject material and interesting set designs. But its meanings and themes especially communicated through the absolutely terrifying characters that resemble purification of the people are intriguing. I can definitely appreciate it, even if how it was framed isn't my taste.

Though this scene was really fascinating, best part.

(Oh and the other movies we watched that day are absolutely fascinating and I have literally no issues with them and they're pretty straight forward surrealism to me because I love surrealism. They're both films that I will make in some form some day.)

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Hedgehog in the Fog

This was by far my favorite film we watched. The personification of the animal characters (all aside from the horse in the fog) was done in a really unusual, but likable way.

This film felt like it was depicting harmony within nature even when mystery and fear is abound; all the characters the hedgehog encounters in the film are never malicious and have a purpose even if it's not clearly described. They all guide the hedgehog to his goal and he still has time to ponder the mysteries of his own life as we do in our own lives when we encounter mere chance.

The techniques in this film are ridiculously interesting too. I read an essay while researching discussing Yuri Norysten's atypical animation techniques and not following the usual Disney traditional animated cels (mostly because of money constraints), but Norysten had to innovate and experiment all in a tight budget, almost entirely using cutout puppets and shooting frame by frame (no key frames) on a single multiplane camera. He had to mess with the shot timing on the camera to achieve different effects like blending an animal into the fog. He even integrated use of the studio lights to affect the mood. Yuri is incredibly talented and thoughtful about his medium and doesn't treat it as a profit, he treats it as a life and an art.

Gotta go fog

Tale of Tales

Tale of Tales is a complex, vast narrative that doesn't even carry a main character; it builds itself on a series of vignettes that depict various fantastical and realistic meshes of life, especially its trials and thresholds one must cross. It's an especially Russian film that shows the losses the Soviet Union faced on the Eastern front of WWII, and the themes of war but survival and hope perpetuate through the film, especially with the symbolism of apples being found, consumed, and shared. 

The film's vignettes act in conjunction with each other and recurring images throughout connect the vignettes, like memories. 

That's probably why Tale of Tales is so interesting. Even with some direct imagery and themes, it's not concrete in its meaning and has a disjointed and creative chaos, like how we all see our own memories in relation to each other even if they occur at different points in history or have exaggerated fantasy to them. 

Yuri Norysten as a whole is such a though provoking and thoughtful director, especially in a medium that's become largely commercialized and homogenized, he remembers the artistry and personalization of animation that is lost in movie studio work most of the time. Far more people aside from animators and historians need to watch his work.

Krysar (The Pied Piper)

SO KRYSAR HAHAHA

I need to agree with Cameron here, this film probably would've been stronger if there was evener pacing and half the run time.

Not to say it's a bad film in the least, you can see the ambition and thought on the screen, especially in the visual style and integration of the live rats in a stop motion film (how does one direct rats). The art direction on this film makes me think of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligiri and Tim Burton's visual style with sharper, less inviting character designs, but the angularity and inhumanness to the human characters were really gorgeous and helped bolster the themes of human greed and waste that appeared in the original Pied Piper.

The greed and waste in the film is more transformative and visual with many of the puppets designed grotesquely and similar to rats (or just inhuman).