simplysounak
There's this new young Australian director I m rapidly developing a liking to.His works brought the very basic question to my mind once again after the works of Wes Anderson and Tati and Kubrick - What makes a great artist?? Perhaps its their unique vision of the world...seeing things in their own unique way, in a way people do not care to see. Doesn't this very thing make an auteur??The way he sees, the way he thinks, the way he turns out the most painful of things into the most joyful ones, the way he has defined LIFE just made me sit n look at the blank screen for minutes after the films were over. I got something new all over again.This is one of the darkest stop motion animations i saw...yet having the most liveliest sense of life...If not anything else, u ll do one thing. U ll think...about the film, yes...but more so about life and how you have lived it this long....about the world and how you have seen it this long. Harvie knew facts, saw facts, thought out facts...and so ll u. But then u ll have to think if u ll laugh or smile or cry or just think.Tell me in what genre would u put it in.
valleyjohn
Harvie Krumpet is an Oscar winning short animated movie that was directed by Adam Elliot who made the brilliaint " Mary and Max" . Although this film was made 5 years earlier than M&M it is unmistakably the same in its animation and Humour. Harvie Krumpet is a Polish immigrant who has Torrette's , smokes 28 cigarettes a day , has a head that is magnetic and is a naturist. This is his hilarious life story of no matter is thrown at Harvie he is always going to bounce back. What i love about Adam Elliots films is it's brutal ,dark comedy aspect. The characters involved are not not normal people at all , they are people with extreme complications but you cant help but love them ! Harvie Krumpet is not something you would show the kids and especially not your ageing granny but if you likes Mary & Max you will like this too.
ackstasis
Harvie Krumpet (born Harvek Milos Krumpetzki in 1922) has perhaps the worst luck in the world. Afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome from birth, he has always found it difficult to fit in. When his mother and father freeze to death outside their burnt-down home, and World War II comes to his native Poland, Harvie emigrates to Spotswood, Australia to start a new life. Here, his luck scarcely improves. It isn't long before Harvie is struck by lightning, he tragically loses a testicle and the metal plate in his head becomes magnetised. However, it would be unfair to suggest that Harvie never experiences the good parts of life he spends many years of happiness with his understanding wife, and their adopted Thalidomide daughter grows to become a successful and intelligent lawyer.In 2004, Adam Elliot's 'Harvie Krumpet' caused a sensation in Australia when it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, beating out the likes of Pixar (in Bud Luckey's 'Boundin''). Elliot's poignant depiction of a man finding a reason to live amidst a life fraught with bad luck had a profound effect on audiences. Created entirely using claymation a wonderful art that is growing scarcer with the advent of CGI animation the film is great to look at, and narrated by the warm voice of Geoffrey Rush, a terrific Australian actor who is nowadays best recognised as Captain Barbossa from Gore Verbinski's 'Pirates of the Caribbean (2003).'Despite Rush's narration adding wonderfully to the tone of the film, I felt that perhaps it was used too often. Harvie's every action is carefully and methodically narrated to us, even in those moments when I felt that the animation could easily have spoken for itself. Nevertheless, 'Harvie Krumpet' is a touching story of one humble immigrant's life, and is guaranteed to help you find hope and happiness in the moments when you thought there was none.
stella-100
What a fantastic 20 minutes!! I watched this on SBS the other night, and I was utterly charmed. Its funny, poignant, touching, sad and has a few life lessons we could all take on board. Adam Elliot deservedly won the Oscar for this one. Its charmingly narrated by Geoffrey Rush who has such a wonderful voice, it shows the entire lifetime of a Polish boy who moves to Australia to start a new life when his parents are killed in a tragic accident.Bad luck seems to plague the lovable character, he lives alone, endures illness, falls in love, has a family and ends up realising some truths about life. I saw an interview with Elliot on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope programme and he is as utterly charming and humble as his little character, everything from his mum knitting Harvie's costumes to being awestruck at the Oscars. He is destined for big things. Dont miss it!