Czech Films 2001 / Otesánek / Czech Republic 2001
In his own unique way, Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer has adapted a folk tale about Otesánek, a gluttonous child made from wood who gradually makes short work of every living thing around him. The story is set in the present day in a run-of-the-mill urban housing estate. Mr and Mrs Horák have yearned so much for a child that one day Mrs Horák sees the boy’s image in a tree stump which her husband brings home. At the appropriate moment the wood comes alive. However, his parents’ joy does not last long. Little Otík, as he is known, needs a constant supply of food until he finally starts procuring it for himself. He doesn’t even pass up the cat and a tubby social worker. Only the neighbour’s precocious daughter Alžbětka, who is familiar with the fairy tale, knows where the people in the block are disappearing to. Švankmajer conceived his film as a grotesque horror which develops into a parable about humankind’s arrogant efforts to defy nature. Like his previous feature-length films, here, too, the filmmaker combines live actors with special effects and exquisite animation in location scenes.
127 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Jan Švankmajer
/ Screenplay Jan Švankmajer
/ Dir. of Photography Juraj Galvánek
/ Music Carl Maria von Weber
/ Editor Marie Zemanová
/ Producer Jaromír Kallista
/ Production Athanor, Filmfour, Barrandov Biografia
/ Cast Veronika Žilková, Jan Hartl, Jaroslava Kretschmerová, Pavel Nový, Kristina Adamcová, Dagmar Stříbrná, Zdeněk Kozák, Jitka Smutná, Jiří Lábus, Arnošt Goldflam
Jan Švankmajer (b. 1934, Prague) studied puppetry, stage design and direction at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague (DAMU). From 1964 he worked as a screenwriter, designer and director of distinctive animated films in which he often animated real objects or people. His original, internationally recognised films reflect his affinity with the Czech Surrealist movement. His work includes a number of award-winning short films and the combined drama-animation features Alice (1987), Faust (1993), Conspirators of Pleasure (1996) and Greedy Guts (2000). As art director he created the special effects in a number of feature films. He often works with his wife, Eva Švankmajerová.
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