小蝌蚪找妈妈 (Where is Mama)

October 25, 2013 in Asian films, ★★★★, China | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Te Wei
Release Date: 1960
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Where is Mama © Te Wei‘Where is Mama’* is a charming little film in which we watch a school tadpoles seeking their mother.

They mistake two shrimps, a goldfish, a crab, a turtle and a catfish for their mother, before their real mother finds them.

Told by a voice-over, ‘Where is Mama’ is a genuinely Chinese film: it is based on an ancient Chinese fable, it is typically preoccupied with nature and water, its watercolor and ink style is based on classic Chinese painters (most obviously Qi Baishi), and it is set to a serene and leisurely speed.

The result is a film that is a bit slow, but poetic in feel and strikingly beautiful. The short looks timelessly Chinese, but at the time of its release the film’s style was completely new and daring within the Chinese animation film world. However, it would take ca. twenty years before its influence became clear, because five years after the making of this cartoon the Shanghai Animation Studio was shut down as part of the Cultural Revolution, and many of its employees were sent to re-education camps in the countryside. Only in the late seventies it would be up and running again. In the following decade ‘Where is Mama’ would be an inspiration to many Chinese animators, who would reuse several of this film’s key elements. In that decade, too, Te Wei made his own masterpiece, ‘Feeling from Mountain and Water‘ (1988).

Watch ‘Where is Mama’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Where is Mama’ is available on the French DVD ‘Impression de montagne et d’eau’

* this film probably is best known by its French title: ‘Les têtards à la recherche de leur maman’

 

Али-Бабы и сорока разбойников (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves)

October 23, 2013 in ★★★½, European films, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Grigori Lomidze
Release Date: 1959
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves © SoyuzmultfilmFilmed in two colors, ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ is a long puppet animation film from the Soviet Union.

The short takes half an hour to retell the famous story from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights quite faithfully. The film features the death of two characters, but the grim ending of the original story is lacking. Instead of being killed, the forty thieves are captured by the townspeople.

Interestingly, Ali Baba is not the real hero of the story, but rather his wife, a girl he bought on a slave market, unfortunately run by the very thieves he had robbed earlier. It’s this slave girl who decoys and fools the thieves to their own destruction.

The film uses a narrator who does all the voices, and a very lush score by composer Eduard Kolmanovsky. The film is quite slow and the puppet animation isn’t as sophisticated as in contemporary films by Jiří Trnka. The puppets have no facial expression whatsoever, and cannot move anything in their face, except for the gang leader, who can roll his one eye. Only occasionally their emotions become apparent. The best example of this may be the terror of Ali Baba’s neighbor when he realizes he’s trapped inside the thieves’ cave.

About the film’s director, Grigori Lomidze, little is known. He also directed the propaganda film ‘To You , Moscow‘ (1947), which combines live action and cel animation. Nothing points to a long experience in stop motion, and unfortunately, it shows. Nevertheless, ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ is a charming film, succeeding in evoking the typical atmosphere of the Arabian Nights.

Watch ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ yourself and tell me what you think:

O skleničku víc (A Drop Too Much)

October 21, 2013 in ★★★, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers, Stop motion films | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Jiří Trnka
Release Date: 1954
Rating: ★★★
Review:

A Drop Too Much © Jiri TrnkaA young man on a motorcycle is on his way to his girl.

Along the way he stops at a bar, where a wedding is taking place. There he’s offered a drink, which he reluctantly accepts. However, one leads to another and he is quite intoxicated when leaving the bar. Driving at night he tries to speed against a car, a train and even a plane, but he finally crashes, never to see his girl.

This educational film warns us not to combine drinking with driving. In this respect the film is very dull and predictable, but Trnka’s illusion of speed and drunkenness is astonishing.

Watch ‘A Drop Too Much’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://en.channel.pandora.tv/channel/video.ptv?ch_userid=noisypig&prgid=46485008&ref=rss

Animal Farm

October 18, 2013 in ★★★★★ ♕, European films, Feature films, Films by female artists, Halas & Batchelor, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: John Halas & Joy Batchelor
Release Date: January 31, 1954
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
Review:

Animal Farm © Halas & BatchelorBased on George Orwell’s famous fable (published only nine years before), Animal Farm is the first animated feature made in England, it’s one of Europe’s first feature films, and it’s undoubtedly among the masterpieces of feature animation.

The film falls into the tradition of Disney-style semi-realistic cel animation. However, it sets itself apart from the Disney tradition in its grim and political story, its lack of sentimentality and its open depiction of cruelty and violence. Moreover, the backgrounds are bold oil paintings, with visible brush strokes and darker colors than any Disney film had ever shown.

Nevertheless, the realistic and wonderful animation of the animals pays some depths to the Disney tradition (watch the Silly Symphony ‘Farmyard Symphony‘ for example), greatly helped by the presence of ex-Disney animator John Reed. The film even contains one sweet character for comical relief in a little duckling who tries to keep up with the other animals, echoing the turtle in ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937). However, when the story turns particularly grim, with the killing of the Trotsky-like pig Snowball by Napoleon’s dog henchmen, we do not see this cute character again.

The assassination of Snowball is the first of several alarming events in which the animals’ revolution is betrayed. The most disturbing of these is Boxer’s ride to a certain death. This scene is the emotional highlight of the film, and it creates strong feelings of outrage and alarm, still. The horror on the face of his friend Benjamin is very well captured, and moves to this day.

Using a voice over and evocative music by Hungarian composer Mátyás Seiber, the film retells Orwell’s story effectively, using only Orwell’s own words. Its only strong deviation from the book is its ending. Where Orwell’s novel ends with the Stalin-like pig Napoleon’s regime installed, the film ends with yet another revolution – some wishful thinking that in the real world never quite came true until the late 1980s, when encouraged by Gorbachev’s perestroika, the people all over Eastern Europe revolted against their communist oppressors.

‘Animal Farm’, which was released within a year after Stalin’s death, is still a moving portrait of the corrupting force of power. Even though its subject, the Soviet Union, has long been a state of the past, the forces depicted in this movie are still active. The world is not free of its Napoleons, yet…

Watch ‘Animal Farm’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Magic Canvas

October 16, 2013 in ★★★★, European films, Films by female artists, Halas & Batchelor, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: John Halas & Joy Batchelor
Release Date: 1948
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Magic Canvas © Halas & Batchelor‘Magic Canvas’ is rather pretentiously introduced as “something different (….), new and exciting”.

Luckily, the film is rather original and exciting: using a rather abstract score by Hungarian composer Mátyás Seiber, it consists of associative images with a strong sense of surrealism. It loosely tells the story of man struggling to be free. Even though it has to pay its debts to Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ (1940), ‘The Magic Canvas’ surely is one of the most avant-gardistic films of its time, and a testimony of Halas & Batchelor’s animation ambitions.

Watch ‘Magic Canvas’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Magic Canvas’ is available on the DVD inside the book ‘Halas & Batchelor Cartoons’

Veselý Cirkus (The Merry Circus)

October 14, 2013 in ★★★½, cut-out animation films, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Jiří Trnka
Release Date: 1951
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

The Merry Circus © Jiri Trnka‘The Merry Circus’, is puppet-animator Trnka’s try at cut-out animation.

The film shows that Trnka was a master in this technique as well: the animation is superb: the sense of weight, muscular tensions and balance is nothing less than stunning. Moreover, the cut-outs seem to float in mid-air, casting wonderful shadows on the background.

Unfortunately, the film’s subject is not that interesting. We watch circus artists perform, among them two sea lions juggling, a girl on a horse, three trapeze acrobats and an acrobat bear balancing on a chair on a bottle on a glass. Even though some of the shown tricks are quite improbable, the only truly surrealistic act is the fish on the slack-rope.

Despite the lack of story, the film is an enjoyable watch: its visual design is beautiful and poetic, its animation fluent and convincing, and its circus atmosphere well-captured. ‘The Merry Circus’ may not be Trnka’s best film, but it’s only the high quality of some of his other films that makes this one second-rate.

Watch ‘The Merry Circus’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://veehd.com/video/4587370_Jiri-Trnka-The-Merry-Circus-Vesely-Cirkus-1951

Желтый аист (The Yellow Stork)

October 11, 2013 in ★★★★, European films, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 comments

Director: Lev Atamanov
Release Date: 1951
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

The Yellow Stork © Soyuzmultfilm‘The Yellow Stork’ is a Russian fairy tale film set in China.

The film tells about a flute player, whose music is so vivid, it can bring a drawing of a stork to life. An evil mandarin captures the bird, demanding it to perform for him. But the stork will only dance to the flute player’s music, and when it hears this music, it flies away through the window.

This film, which uses song, seems to celebrate music and freedom and appears to be a pamphlet against oppression, which is remarkable for a film made under Stalin’s rule. The animation in this short is very good, with beautifully animated humans. The result is one of the more enjoyable Soviet films of the era.

Watch ‘The Yellow Stork’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Олень и волк (The Stag and the Wolf)

October 9, 2013 in ★★★★, European films, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 comments

Director: Dmitry Babichenko
Release Date: 1950
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

The Stag and the Wolf © SoyuzmultfilmA wolf gets trapped under a tree. A stag helps him out, but as soon as he is free, the wolf tries to catch and eat his helper.

The stag claims this to be unjust, and the two animals ask a bear to be a referee. The bear restores the initial situation to be able to judge the argument, but then runs off with the deer, leaving the wolf under the tree again.

‘The Stag and the Wolf’ is a typical Russian animation film from the early fifties, this time based on an ancient tale (it’s even found among folk tales in Cameroon, albeit with different animals). Like contemporary Soviet films, it has the distinct flavor of Russified Disney. The film pushes the limits of Soviet naturalism, especially in the backgrounds. The bear, however, is very Disney-like, and a little at odds with the particularly realistically designed stag.

Watch ‘The Stag and the Wolf’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Дедушка и внучек (Grandpa and grandson)

October 7, 2013 in ★, European films, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Alexander Ivanov
Release Date: 1950
Rating: ★
Review:

Grandpa and Grandson © SoyuzmultfilmIt’s winter, and a rabbit, a fox and a squirrel wake up a hibernating little bear to go skating with them.

‘Grandpa and grandson’ is one of the countless harmless children’s films the Soviet Union produced in the 1950s. Unfortunately, it’s not among the best. It’s a slow and sugary film starring many all too cute animals and using a lot of dialogue.

Unlike contemporary Soviet animation films it doesn’t seem to be based on a folk tale. Instead, it feels like an overlong Silly Symphony (it lasts almost twenty minutes), ending with a seemingly endless ballet on skates. Because of the slow animation of the characters (typical of Russian films from the era), even this ballet doesn’t really comes off like its Disney models.

Watch ‘Grandpa and grandson’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Чудо-мельница (The Magic Windmill)

October 4, 2013 in ★★★★, European films, Films by female artists, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , , | 2 comments

Director: Olga Khodatayeva
Release Date: 1950
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

The Magic Windmill © Soyuzmultfilm‘The Magic Windmill’ is one of the classic fairy-tale films produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

In this short an old man, a cat and a cock are having trouble to feed all the animals who seek shelter at their place. Therefore they ask the mountain god for help, who gives them a magical little windmill, which produces endless amounts of breads out of of a few grains of corn. Unfortunately, rumor spreads, and soon the little windmill is stolen by a greedy king. But the cock flies to his palace and brings back the magical object, despite several attempts on his life.

‘The Magic Windmill’ is a gentle, if what overlong little film based on a Russian fairy-tale. It uses a naturalistic style, clearly influenced by Disney, with watercolor backgrounds, and a multiplane camera effect in its opening scene . The animal designs are an interesting mix of the Disney style and Russian illustration art. The animation, however, leaves a lot to desire. The animation of movement is awkward, with most characters moving in a slow, all too constant speed. The film uses dialogue in rhyme, but the lip synchronization with the characters is poor.

Despite these flaws, ‘The Magic Windmill’ is a film of great poetry, and one of the best of the Russian fairy tale films of the fifties. Indeed, director Khodatayeva was a veteran of soviet animation, having made films since the 1920s.

Watch ‘The Magic Windmill’ yourself and tell me what you think:

 

Román s basou (Story of the Bass Cello)

October 2, 2013 in ★★★, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers, Stop motion films | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Jiří Trnka
Release Date: 1949
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Román s basou (Story of the Bass Cello) © Jiri Trnka‘Story of the Bass Cello’ is a re-telling of a classic story by Anton Chekhov.

The film tells about a bass player and a girl who both take a swim, but whose clothes are stolen. The bass player invites the lady to take place in his bass case, but when he’s after the possible thief, the case is picked up by his fellow instrumentalists and brought to the palace, where an astonished crowd discovers the naked lady inside.

‘Story of the Bass Cello’ is a mildly amusing and sweet film. It contains nice silent comedy. The short is a little bit slow, however, and not as good as Trnka’s more outrageous ‘The Song of the Prairie‘ from the same year.

Watch ‘Story of the Bass Cello’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://veehd.com/video/4587175_Jiri-Trnka-Roman-s-Basou-Story-Of-The-Bass-Cello-1949

Árie Prérie (The Song of the Prairie)

September 30, 2013 in ★★★★★, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers, Stop motion films | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Jiří Trnka
Release Date: 1949
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

The Song of the Prairie © Jiri TrnkaWith ‘The Song of the prairie’ Trnka’s both made a parody of and a homage to the classic Western.

The film uses all the cliches of the genre: a stagecoach, masked bandits, a damsel in distress, a hero with a white hat, a villain fancying the girl, and a climax on a cliff.

Trnka’s animation has much improved since ‘The Emperor’s Nightingale‘: the cinematography is excellent, and particularly the illusion of speed is astonishing. The film is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek and full of brilliant silent comedy, showing Trnka’s then unsurpassed mastery in stop-motion. ‘The Song of the Prairie’ is one of Trnka’s most enjoyable films, and deserves a more classic status.

Watch ‘The Song of the Prairie’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.totalshortfilms.com/ver/pelicula/122

Mr. Wolf

September 27, 2013 in ★★, European films, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 comments

Director: Victor Gromov
Release Date: 1949
Rating: ★★
Review:

Mr. Wolf © SoyuzmultfilmMr. Wolf is a Russian propaganda film. The film is an oddball in director Gromov’s small animation output. His other seven films are fantastic fairy tales and children’s films

The film tells about Mr. Wolf, a rich American, who is fed up with weapons and war. He retreats with his unwilling family to a peaceful island. But then oil is discovered on the island. Immediately, Mr. Wolf and his family are overpowered by greed, and the American only too gladly drops his pacifism.

‘Mr Wolf’ is based on a comedy by Evgeny Petrov. Although drowned in caricature, this blatant propaganda film is hardly funny: its animation is elaborate, but painstakingly slow, and too excessive. Moreover, it is not too clear what the message is. Are all Westerners blinded by greed? Is pacifism senseless in a world of war? Are oil and peace at odds with eachother? I’ve no idea.

Watch ‘Mr. Wolf’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Mr. Wolf’ is available on the DVD box set ‘Animated Soviet Propaganda’

Císařův Slavík (The Emperor’s Nightingale)

September 25, 2013 in ★★★, Czech Republic, European films, Feature films, Independent film makers, Stop motion films | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Jiří Trnka
Release Date: April 15, 1949
Rating: ★★★
Review:

The Emperor's Nightingale © Jiri Trnka‘The Emperor’s Nightingale’ is Jiří Trnka’s second feature film (he made no less than six in total).

It tells the familiar story by Hans Christian Andersen from an original perspective: he frames the fairy tale by a live-action story about a lonely rich boy, who lives in a restricted environment. When the boy goes to bed, he dreams the fairy-tale, which stars some of his toys. Thus, after more than seven minutes, the animation kicks in.

In the boy’s dream, the Chinese emperor is a lonely little rich boy, restricted by rules, too, and the whole film seems a plea for freedom and against rules and restrictions, quite some message in communist Czechoslovakia. This theme is enhanced by the English narration, wonderfully voiced by Boris Karloff, which is a welcome addition to Trnka’s silent comedy. The whole film breathes a kind of surrealistic atmosphere and Trnka’s use of camera angles is astonishing, as is his sometimes very avant-garde montage.

Nevertheless, the pacing of the film is slow, its humor sparse and only mildly amusing, and the puppet animation still too stiff to allow elaborate character animation. Therefore, the film hasn’t aged very well, and although a tour-de- force, ‘The Emperor’s Nightingale’ falls short as a timeless masterpiece.

Watch ‘The Emperor’s Nightingale’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Confessions of a Foyer Girl

September 20, 2013 in Aardman Studio, ★★, European films, Stop motion films, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Peter Lord & David Sproxton
Release Date: 1978
Rating: ★★
Review:

Confessions of a Foyer Girl © Aardman‘Confessions of a Foyer Girl’ is the second film in Aardman’s revolutionary ‘Animated Conversations’ series.

Like its predecessor, ‘Down & Out‘, the film uses recorded dialogue. This time we hear two foyer girls chatting in a cinema. The dialogue is hard to understand and the lip-synch is not as good as in ‘Down & out’. Moreover, the animation is associated with seemingly unrelated stock live action footage, which leads to a film, which is both experimental and vague. The result never quite works and the result must be called a failure.

‘Confessions of a Foyer Girl’ is available on the DVD ‘Aardman Classics’

NEWS: ‘Head over Heels’ wins Cartoon d’Or 2013

September 20, 2013 in European films, Stop motion films, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , | 1 comment

Head over Heels © Timothy Reckart

Still from ‘Head over Heels’

‘Head over Heels’ is a film directed by Timothy Reckart, and produced by Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly. It has won this prestigious Eruopean prize at the Cartoon Forum, held in Toulouse, France. Earlier, the film had been nominated for an Academy Award.

‘Head over Heels’ is a stop-motion film about a couple who have grown apart, even though they still live in the same house. In the film, one of them occupies the ceiling, the other the floor. This concept is a masterstroke, and the story is very well executed. The result is a moving picture, which is a well-deserved winner of the Cartoon d’Or 2013.

http://cartoon-media.com/cartoon-d-or/cartoon-d-or-2013/nominees.htm

Down & Out

September 18, 2013 in Aardman Studio, ★★★★★, European films, Stop motion films, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Peter Lord & David Sproxton
Release Date: 1978
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

Down & Out © Aardman‘Down & out’ is the first film in Aardman’s ‘animated conversations’ series and the British studio’s first masterpiece.

The very idea of using dialogue from real life is revolutionary enough, but to use it for clay animation with lip-synch is a masterstroke. Moreover, the animation of the plasticine figures is startling: it lacks the exaggerations of normal animation, but uses small gestures and real movements, like scratching one’s nose or belly, instead. The animation continues realistically even when not supported by the soundtrack. The result is uncannily realistic, making the drama of an old, confused man asking for food and shelter, but being turned down at an Salvation army office, extra tragic.

With this film Aardman single-handedly invented the ‘animated documentary’, a genre which would lead to fantastic films like ‘Ryan’ and ‘Waltz with Bashir’ in the 2000s.

‘Down & Out’ is available on the DVD ‘Aardman Classics’

Het treinhuisje (Home on the Rails)

September 16, 2013 in ★★★★★, European films, Independent film makers, Netherlands | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Paul Driessen
Release Date: 1981
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

Het treinhuisje (Home on the Rails) © Paul Driessen‘Het treinhuisje’ is one of Paul Driessen’s most beautiful films.

This short builds on the surreal concept of a home built right on a railway track. The daily life of the couple living in the house is dominated by a train passing right through their home at certain times.

With simple and direct storytelling Driessen sets the drama, in which this very train ruins the life of the couple. All the time we stick inside the couple’s home. Only when the man tells of his misfortunes, we shortly cut to the outside world. Ironically, it’s the railway itself that ruins the couple’s life.

The story is told without dialogue, and supported by beautiful country music. The emotions of the couple are depicted well, and are very subtle. However, the film also shows Driessen’s typical animation style at its most radical: the film’s surrealism is enhanced by strange disappearances of the characters when they cross the room and by a ghostly avant-image of the train before it really enters the house.

The film also shares the trademark morbid humor with other Driessen films, especially in the cuckoo clock and in the persistent fly bugging the characters throughout the picture. Nevertheless, the melancholy atmosphere dominates, and its the film’s drama that impresses the viewer time and time again.

Watch ‘Het treinhuisje’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Het treinhuisje’ is available on the DVD ‘The Dutch Films of Paul Driessen’

Te land, ter zee en in de lucht (On Land, at Sea and in the Air)

September 13, 2013 in ★★★★, European films, Independent film makers, Netherlands | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Paul Driessen
Release Date: 1980
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Ter land, ter zee en in de lucht © Paul DriessenIn this film Paul Driessen experiments with the split screen for the first time.

Here we see three narrow frames: the left frame (Land) depicting a sleeping man, the middle one (Air) a bird, and the right one (Sea) a couple on a boat on the ocean. The story involves several themes explored in all three frames, which at times interact but only come together in the end

Like many of Paul Driessen’s shorts ‘Te land ter zee en in de lucht’ involves morbid humor, including a running gag of an ark sinking several times. The film uses no dialogue and no music, only sound effects with very effective results.

Driessen would take the split screen technique to the max in ‘The End of the World in Four Seasons’ (1995), but the genius of ‘Te land, ter zee en in de lucht’ would only be topped by his melancholy film ‘The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg’ from 2000.

Watch ‘Te land, ter zee en in de lucht’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Te land, ter zee en in de lucht’ is available on the DVD ‘The Dutch Films of Paul Driessen’

Ei om zeep (The Killing of an Egg)

September 11, 2013 in ★★★★½, European films, Independent film makers, Netherlands | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Paul Driessen
Release Date: 1977
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:

Ei om zeep © Paul DriessenA man is going to eat an egg, when he suddenly hears a voice from within. He destroys the egg, killing the unseen victim. However his cruel behavior is soon punished in an echo of events.

‘The Killing of an Egg’ is a short cartoon with a very limited setting. The whole action takes place within a single square frame and its perspective is changed only once. In this claustrophobic surrounding the story unfolds its own inner logic. In this limited time-space Paul Driessen shows his mastery of story telling.

This classic cartoon is a prime example of Paul Driessen’s mature style. It’s the first film in which he plays with framing the action (soon followed by split screens, eventually leading to the extreme example of ‘The End of the World in Four Seasons’ from 1995). The film shows Driessen’s typical way of telling a short story based on a simple, yet clever idea which makes the cartoon tick like an inevitable fate. Later examples of this style are ‘Home on the Rails‘ (1981) and ‘Sunny Side Up‘ (1985). And finally, this film is typical of Driessen’s dark humor, which always has a disturbing edge to it. We may feel as powerful as this man, but we, too, will be crushed in the end…

Watch ‘Ei om zeep’ yourself and tell me what you think:

 

‘Ei om zeep’ is available on the DVD ‘The Dutch Films of Paul Driessen’

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