Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Little Otik

(Jan Svankmajer/2000/Czech Republic)

Svankmajer applies his surrealistic animation to this modern retelling of a Czech folktale about a childless couple who take a tree stump as a substitute offspring which then comes alive with an insatiable appetite. Little Otik’s not so little hunger brings conflict to the marriage and leads to several disappearances in the locality before something has to finally be done. It’s slightly overlong at the two hour mark but darkly comic and enthrallingly bizarre enough to keep you giggling and agog. It works as a weird and wonderful antidote to the usual mainstream cinema and even typical art house fare to be honest.

(4/5)

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