Chronopolis

After watching so many of Piotr Kamler's short abstract animated films on YouTube and UbuWeb, I finally saw his feature from the early '80s on the latter site. I read the synopsis on Wikipedia afterwards and while I got what was supposed to be understood as happening reading that, there was no way I would have figured that out if I just watched this cold. Knowing that the original version was 66 minutes and had narration by Michael Lonsdale (this version just had French text at the beginning), I half wondered if that might have made this viewing more enjoyable. As it was, the unusual visuals were what managed to keep my eyes open for the entire 52 minutes not to mention the electronic score by Luc Ferrari. Those visuals included many giant heads with headgear resembling those of the Egyptian pyramids, several black balls swirling together and apart, lots of mountain climbers on ropes, and one of them falling before flying with a large white ball helping him. Also that person and that ball walk and bounce with joy after becoming "friends". Okay, so on that note, Chronopolis is worth a look for anyone interested in these artistically unusual animated films.

If you're watching this without an inkling of an idea what the story is about, then you're in for quite the surprise. Even then the synopsis has painted a picture of a rather sane storyline, but the actual film is anything but.

As the synopsis went, it tells of an obsessed mountain climber, which you'll see as the prologue before the opening credits and text crawl, which tells you of the presence of Chronopolis, an imaginary city that exists in dreamy manuscripts of the mind (note to self – this spells trouble with flashing lights), where its inhabitants are immortals yearning for a change in their omnipresence. They can see our world, and notice of all persons this mountain climber, and the synopsis explained that they decided to contact him through alchemy, creating an intelligent sphere to meet the man.

What that translated to, is a repetitive piece of animation that a 5 year old kid could produce. Have shapes created, though credit goes to the stop motion style, and put it through a mind-numbing loop. And repeat until your eyes start to close, then move on to the next scene. If anything, the Chonopolisians (if this term exists) really love their sticks and balls, constantly playing at conjuring up that magical sphere, and having a field day playing with it before releasing it to the "other" world. It gets no better as well, when the man interacts with the sphere in yet another hypnotically boring and sleep inducing sequence.

Thank goodness of course that the run time is shorter than what's advertised, which is 57 minutes (or less) against the 70 stated. While firmly dated, its dull colours, non-existent story, scratchy soundtrack and repetitive pictures will win over no fans. Don't waste time.

You either love this or you hate it.

Chronopolis is an "art" film. If you are expecting a plot, action, dialogue, or ANYTHING then this movie is not for you. The movie is HIGHLY repetitive and reuses the same stock animations over and over again but just at different angles or lightings to pretend it is a different object or location. From an entertainment perspective: this movie is complete garbage. The movie's plot could've been written by a 3 year old: Immortals spend 30 minutes (not even joking, the first 30 minutes are nothing but this) creating a ball. Ball finds mountain climber. Mountain climber finds immortals. The end.

If you are looking for a plot, that is it. There is nothing more to the plot than that.

However, the movie is hypnotic to a certain degree. If you are looking for something unique and bizarre then this movie is for you. There really isn't anything quite like this. The repetitiveness becomes a norm and you start to understand how the film works. This is a movie that requires NO brain power at all. You just sit and watch. Anyone who tries to convince you that this movie has "deep, complex, or profound" imagery/themes is a complete liar. The point of the movie isn't to teach anyone anything. These kind of "art" films are designed for experience. What does the audience FEEL when they are watching it? What sensations come to the audience? What does this imagery invoke? That is the purpose of this film.

In short: This is a movie that is awful yet unique. If you like it then I understand your view; however, don't lie and say that this movie contains a "profound/complex" plot because it doesn't. Watch this film to experience something you aren't used to. If you can't get past the first 10 minutes then I doubt you can get through the next 50.

No beauty, no entertainment, no laugh, not interesting facts and not even good thoughts or ideas. What's the point of it? What do you get from it?

This is not a movie that you watch for entertainment purposes. I got completely transported by the music and the eerie atmosphere of the film.

It's more of a landscape that you let yourself get sucked into than a story that gets told to you.