By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Starring: Jan Hartl | Jaroslava Kretschmerová | Pavel Novy | Veronika Zilková
Original language title: Otesánek
Country: czech_republic, japan, united_kingdom
Year: 2001
Running time: 125
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0228687
Diane says: “I’m wondering should I recommend this to people on the strength of the first 45 minutes… This movie has such wit and brightness. The opening montage of babies laughing and crying is excellent. This is followed by a hilarious sequence in which the father sees babies and pregnant women everywhere, much to his dismay. I laughed and laughed, but this gave way to boredom. At one point late in the film, I roused myself enough to notice how such a funny film had turned so dark, but then I relapsed into apathy. There must be something more in the film to the Czech sensibility. I’m on a quest to find out what that
is.
“However, I will be nom’ing it for cinematography. I loved how the filmmakers suddenly inserted close-ups of unexpected things from surprising angles: shoes from floor level, a cup of coffee from an inch above, a shot from inside Otik’s mouth. (And the sounds were great, too.)”
Laura says: “Surrealist animator Svankmajer (“Alice”), whose short films have been unsettling audiences and influencing filmmakers with dark sensibilities since the 1960s, understands that true horror is found when the ordinary takes on characteristics not found in nature. Combining stop motion animation with live action, Svankmajer recreates a fable that could have come from the blackest pages of the Brothers Grimm.” 3 1/2 cats
For Laura’s complete review: “http://www.reelingreviews.com/littleotik.htm”
Michael says: “LITTLE OTIK was an entertaining and interesting film that could have been a great film had it been a half hour shorter. I was quite enthralled during the first 45 minutes, but as Laura and other reviewers have pointed out, by the end of the film, I was just waiting for the conclusion.
“Based on a Czech fable, LITTLE OTIK tells the tale of a couple who want a child more than anything but are infertile. When the husband digs a tree stump up out of his backyard that resembles a baby, the wife dresses it up and treats it like a newborn babe. When the husband comes home one day to find the stump-baby nursing at his wife’s breast, he tries to destroy it, but she protects it. From that point on, the child’s appetite grows ravenously. Soon the couple’s cat disappears, followed by the mailman as little Otik’s appetite grows.
“Led by Otik, the film shows the obsessive appetites of people… the couple’s need for a child, Otik’s and a neighbor’s obsessions with food, and the neighbor’s daughter’s desire for companionship. LITTLE OTIK is a nice counterpoint to EVERYTHING PUT TOGETHER, another film about the ways children affect adults that I saw last week. If only the filmmaker’s had kept the fable aspect in mind and kept the running time shorter. Great cinematography with extreme close-ups of food and faces, as well as clever shots throughout.
“Despite the length, I give LITTLE OTIK…” 3 1/2 cats
Robin says: “One thing I have to say about LITTLE OTIK is that it is certainly is different than anything else that is gracing the theater screens today. Actually, it’s pretty different from anything on the screen in years. This is a work of weirdness that would make the Grimm brothers proud with its bizarre story and strange twists and sickening turns. Techs are marginal with a home-movie look that is quaint and fits my distorted vision of Czech animation – life is breathed into the collection of twigs and logs that is little Otik and helps reinforce my deluded attitudes about the genre.” 2 1/2 cats
For Robin’s complete review: “http://www.reelingreviews.com/littleotik.htm”