Jabberwocky

This film is impossible to describe. It is a melange of incredibly evocative images with some haunting music. There is little direction to the events. I'm sure one could analyze individual parts and connect them. There is a recurring maze that is at the center, followed by a huge black cat who is quite destructive. But one should just soak in the images and let it go at that.

If you've seen any of Jan Švankmajer's work, then you should have an idea of what to expect in his adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky". "Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta" emphasizes the more disturbing aspects of the story. It's worth remembering that what we now think of as children's stories were not always so cute. Švankmajer's version contains all manner of contorting objects, including a line looking to break free from a maze (what it does at the end might get seen as a swipe at Czechoslovakia's Soviet-backed regime). It's not any masterpiece, but I recommend it, as I do the rest of Švankmajer's work. The Czech title means "Jabberwocky, or Straw Hubert's Clothes".

Considering that the English title for this short film is JABBERWOCKY and it began with a recitation of the Lewis Carroll poem, you'd think that this film was going to be "Jabberwocky". My daughter, a huge Carroll fan, sat in restless anticipation...and then, nothing!! Instead of Jabberwocky, the action on the screen had nothing to do with the poem and after a minute or so they even stopped reading the poem. From then on, it was a very fast-paced and super-weird stop-motion film set in a child's room circa 1900. For what seemed like an eternity, toys danced and moved in crazy manners. Some were even very creepy images--such as soups being made of assorted doll body parts. Now some of this stop-motion was very clever--especially the imagery and metaphors. But, at no point was it Jabberwocky. So what we have is passable entertainment and nothing more.

By the way, this film is part of the CINEMA 16: European Shorts DVD. On this DVD are 16 shorts. Most aren't great, though because it contains THE MAN WITHOUT A HEAD, COPY SHOP, RABBIT and WASP, it's an amazing DVD for lovers of short films and well worth buying.

As the poem Jabberwocky is read out, various toys come to life and dance all around the room and through the furniture. The only thing that seems to be able to stop their fun is a black cat who periodically turns up to overturn them or burst through them.

I saw this short film as part of a collection and I was interested in it because I had seen the very recent film Otesanek by Svankmajer and was curious to see what he had been like over 30 years ago – but more of that later. This film opens with the poem Jabberwocky being read out – this I liked because it is a rhythmic and enjoyable little piece. However the visuals bare little or no relation to the words, although this is not a major problem, just something that struck me as odd that the poem should have been selected in the first place. Instead the visuals are an enjoyable mix of toys moving and all manner of weird things occurring; I would have struggled to place this as being Czech if I hadn't known the director but it is unmistakably Eastern European in origin.

This to me was part of its problem – that I could recognise it as being Svankmajer's work. Baring in mind that the only other film I saw of his was from the late 1990's, I did have to wonder why the animation looked the same 30 years earlier and why he had not manage to adapt or mature his style over several decades – it is rare to see this as most people grow over the time. This is not so much a criticism as it is an observation but it did distract me from the short for a while.

The short itself is interesting but it is all a bit weird ad the animation is not THAT great (even for the period). It is very Eastern European in its rough nature so I guess if that's not your style then don't bother with this. However it is still worth seeing due to the sheer imagination behind it and the number of strange images it throws into your face. It may not be that good but it is interesting and enjoyable in a rough sort of way. The only thing that really bugged me was the fact that Svankmayer seems to have just stayed where he was in the 1970's – but I reserve judgment until I get the chance to see more of his work.

Jabberwocky is one of the apotheosis in the complexity of animation and amount of work. Very atmospheric with strange music and weird old toys from the east of Europa. See it again and again with the same pleasure.

Watch the dancing knife, i still ask myself how they do this...