The Last Trick

This was my first look at a Jan Svankmejer short film, and wow, it was strange. There is a lot to see in this movie after the slow beginning few minutes.

The story is simple: two musicians sit on stage and try to outdo each other. They take turns doing very bizarre things. This is kind of simpler puppet presentation of a film I saw this year called "The Prestige." The latter obviously was a lot more complicated being a two-hour feature movie but you don't see many films, short or long, animated or "real," involving competing magicians. This 11- minute film was done almost 45 years ago, too.

These puppets, from the neck down, move almost like humans. Their heads are more like masks. The tricks involve each one opening up his own head and having really strange things happen from that point. You have to see these "tricks" to believe it.

The story also features the two guys' sportsmanship, which proves to be pretty shallow. Incredibly, normal handshakes in the beginning give way to unbelievable violence. This is quite different, to say the least, and I am looking to seeing other works by this Czech filmmaker.

My first experience of Czech animator and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer's unusual cinematic world came via the more traditionally structured film Little Otik (2000). In that film we had the notion of a wooden puppet-like figure being brought to life in a more psychological reinterpretation of the world of Pinocchio, as well as various Eastern European folktales; with Svankmajer's usually startling imagination held back by some literally wooden performances and a rather flat visual presentation. With that, his most recent film in mind, we come to the film in question; with The Last Trick (1964) standing as Svankmajer's earliest experiment in short-form film-making and one that introduces a number of themes that will be further developed in his subsequent works.

This is no doubt a slight film within the lexicon of Svankmajer's career, with the set up and the execution both seeming incredibly simple and thematically naive. Essentially a film about performance – albeit, created completely without the aid of conventional performers - we begin the film with the creation of two puppet magicians, who - over the course of the short running time - try to outdo one another with a series of wilder and eventually more elaborate visual tricks. That is the plot. The director takes his time to engage us in the theatrics of the story - constructing his scenes to a musical rhythm - before eventually revealing his true intention, by way of a lame pun. There are still some wonderful elements though; such as a strong use of composition, a bold sense of colour, not to mention Svankmajer's always impressive use of stop motion animation.

However, despite all this visual wonderment, one cannot help but feel a little cheated by the slightness of the director's vision and the bluntness his moral message, though I suppose such misgivings are always an issue with an artists' first work. For me, this is one for the Svankmajer devotees only (which, if you're reading this, probably means you). We may marvel at the director's over-the-top use of the visual medium, coupled with the expertise of his team, but at the end of the day, this is merely a sketch for the more interesting and accomplished films still to come.

this is the first short film i have seen from Czech animator Jan Svankmajer,and it is actually is also the first film he has directed.i wasn't sure what to expect to expect,but i liked it.it's basically about two duelling magicians trying to one up each other.each trick gets more bizarre than the last.i won't give way the end.the characters are both wooden puppets,and the animation,though it may seem crude by today's standards,is actually not bad for 1964.it is certainly strange,but to me that's the appeal.it certainly won't be the last Svankmajer film i watch,as i have purchased two collections of his works.for me The Last Trick is a 6/10.

"The Last Trick of Mr. Schwarcewallde and Mr. Edgar" was the first movie of the master stop-motion filmmaker, Jan Svankmajer. Because it was the first he directed, it's not at all surprising that the picture seems more like a demonstration of his many talents instead of a coherent story.

Using giant wooden heads on real human bodies, Svankmajer has these two musicians do a lot of goofy things...including cranking up their heads to make them work. Much of it is NOT stop-motion but many scenes were done live using folks dressed in black to move objects and give the appearance as if they are moving on their own. Impressive as a first film and worth seeing if you are a fan.