Little Otik
NEW YORK -- Jan Svankmajer, the Czech master of the surreal, has found suitable material for his fertile visual imagination with this adaptation of what is apparently considered a classic fairy tale in his native country. The story of an infertile couple who turn a tree stump into their adopted baby, only to find that their creation develops a nasty carnivorous appetite, "Little Otik" plays like a cross between "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Eraserhead"; its resolute strangeness will probably appeal only to the most daring art house audiences. The film recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
Svankmajer, who previously explored much better-known tales in his adaptations of "Alice" and "Faust", infuses this film with generous doses of stop-motion animation to depict the activities of the ravenous title character. Otik is the name given to a tree stump that, after some creative carving, looks miraculously like a baby, and is quickly adopted as such by the desperate Mr. and Mrs. Horak. After faking a pregnancy, the mother lovingly cares for her little darling, breast feeding it and even taking it out for strolls in a baby carriage. Unfortunately, the woodsy Otik soon exhibits signs of an extreme appetite. First, he eats the family cat, then moves on to humans, devouring a hapless postman and a deliciously plump social worker.
The desperate father, in an attempt to starve Otik to death, locks him in the cellar, but Otik is befriended by a precocious little girl next door who provides him with food in between reading books about sexual dysfunction and fending off the advances of a lecherous old neighbor. Eventually, Otik's ever-increasing appetite leads to tragedy.
While the tale functions well enough as a social satire, a horror story and an allegorical representation of the anxieties of parenthood, its dark whimsy doesn't hold up for the duration of Svankmajer's film version, which, at more than two hours, seriously wears out its welcome. While the filmmaker's strong gift for visuals, both haunting and outrageously comic, is on full display here, particularly in the animated sections depicting the title character, the story would have worked far better at half the length.
LITTLE OTIK
Zeitgeist Films
Director-screenwriter Jan Svankmajer
Producer Jaromir Kallista
Director of photography Juraj Galvanek
Artistic director Eva Svankmajerova, Jan Svankmajer
Editor Marie Zemanova
Animation Bedrich Glaser, Martin Kublak
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bozena Horakova Veronika Zilkova
Karel Horak Jan Hartl
Mrs. Stadlerova Jaroslavaq Kretschmerova
Franisek Stadler Pavel Novy
Alzbetka Kristina Adamcolva
Running time -- 127 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Svankmajer, who previously explored much better-known tales in his adaptations of "Alice" and "Faust", infuses this film with generous doses of stop-motion animation to depict the activities of the ravenous title character. Otik is the name given to a tree stump that, after some creative carving, looks miraculously like a baby, and is quickly adopted as such by the desperate Mr. and Mrs. Horak. After faking a pregnancy, the mother lovingly cares for her little darling, breast feeding it and even taking it out for strolls in a baby carriage. Unfortunately, the woodsy Otik soon exhibits signs of an extreme appetite. First, he eats the family cat, then moves on to humans, devouring a hapless postman and a deliciously plump social worker.
The desperate father, in an attempt to starve Otik to death, locks him in the cellar, but Otik is befriended by a precocious little girl next door who provides him with food in between reading books about sexual dysfunction and fending off the advances of a lecherous old neighbor. Eventually, Otik's ever-increasing appetite leads to tragedy.
While the tale functions well enough as a social satire, a horror story and an allegorical representation of the anxieties of parenthood, its dark whimsy doesn't hold up for the duration of Svankmajer's film version, which, at more than two hours, seriously wears out its welcome. While the filmmaker's strong gift for visuals, both haunting and outrageously comic, is on full display here, particularly in the animated sections depicting the title character, the story would have worked far better at half the length.
LITTLE OTIK
Zeitgeist Films
Director-screenwriter Jan Svankmajer
Producer Jaromir Kallista
Director of photography Juraj Galvanek
Artistic director Eva Svankmajerova, Jan Svankmajer
Editor Marie Zemanova
Animation Bedrich Glaser, Martin Kublak
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bozena Horakova Veronika Zilkova
Karel Horak Jan Hartl
Mrs. Stadlerova Jaroslavaq Kretschmerova
Franisek Stadler Pavel Novy
Alzbetka Kristina Adamcolva
Running time -- 127 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/14/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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