jasonmammon Imagination is a collaborative experimental film effort by brothers Eric and Jeffrey Leiser, which combines hand-drawn animation, stop-motion puppet animation, pixilation, and time-lapse techniques (by director/animator Eric) with a haunting musical score (by composer Jeffrey). They co-wrote the story about a neuro-psychologist's attempts to understand two twin girls: Anna, who is diagnosed with a rare form of autism called Asperger's, and Sarah, who is diagnosed as legally blind. The girls connect with each other through the realm of their imaginations, expressed through surreal animated imagery. Most of the film consists of using these abstract dreamscapes to show a window into how the girls experience their world, and other dialogue scenes of the psychologist with the girls' parents tie the story together.The idea behind this film resonated with me personally, given that I am not only a stop-motion animator, but also have a younger brother with autism. Many autistic children, such as those my mother works with as a special education teacher, are non-verbal, but my brother Jonathan is of a higher functioning kind, very similar to Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. I often wish I could enter my brother's brain and see how differently he sees the world around him, so I appreciate how Imagination uses animation to suggest this very idea. Leiser's animation, inspired by the work of Czech stop-motion legend Jan Svankmeyer, also resonates with spiritual symbolism, including the recurring appearance of a white fawn or stag. The white stag is a traditional symbol of Christ which hearkens back to the medieval myth of St. Eustace, and has been alluded to in contemporary myths like Narnia and the Harry Potter series. In my own experience with autism, I believe that there is a direct connection these children have which possibly brings them into a very close intimacy with the spiritual realm. It's possible, in my view, that people with autism and Asperger's have keys to certain doors in the human brain that for the rest of us are simply locked. (My brother, on occasion, used to wander around the house repeating to himself that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God." To him, though he may not understand the theological implications behind this, it's simply a fact that he understands in his own way…I often wonder if he understands it better than the rest of us.)

sandy-richards37 A passage early on shows a child playing with a zoetrope (a pre-camera gadget for simple animations). That foreshadows a wide variety of techniques in this imaginative film, including live action, stop animation, hand-drawn cel animation, and combinations of any two or three. Stop animation evokes Svankmajer's use live actors as animation puppets, as well as use of food. Some macabre, skeletal puppets also bring the Brothers Quay to mind. None of that implies that Leiser's style is at all derivative, however - every scene carries his distinctive imprint, including dramatic imagery around a major, catastrophic incident.After the technique, Leiser's content seems much harder to capture. I found it easy to dislike the ineffectual psychiatrist and to feel for the desperate mother. The twins, however, remained enigmatic to me. They lived as a symbiotic pair in a world governed by beings with huge powers. The nature of their bond and the rules of that world became clear by the end. I don't need to understand every part of a pattern in a movie or the reason for it, but I look to see that there is some pattern somewhere. This time, enough parts came together for me to perceive that a unified whole existed.When logical structure in a movie eludes me, whether or not I understand that structure, I look to the visuals to pull me along. being strong, this movie's imagery has the power. Fans of surrealist animation will find a fair bit to enjoy here, I can say it's a must-have for any personal library.

maryzoomzoom Imagination seems to be about learning the secrets of heaven and nature. Starring are identical twin sisters, one who is going blind and the other who suffers from a type of autism called Asperger's syndrome. The premise is that together they have a special gift that enables them to rise above their physical disabilities and collectively escape reality into a realm of their imagination. It is when the film moves into the stop-motion animated worlds that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is through Eric Leiser's many animation techniques that the two girls connect with a spiritual force/deity and ascend from their limited reality into something much greater and more magical. Which is somehow related to an albino fawn. Regarding their clueless parents, the twin girls say, "They forgot what it means to dream."I think the Leiser Brothers could, in the future, turn in amazing works along the lines of Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and The Science of Sleep (2006). They obviously are a talented duo. Alternatively, they could focus their film-making in the world of animation, à la Jan Svankmajer or the Brothers Quay, which is this film's obvious strength.

lastliberal This film came to me as an came to me as an early preview DVD courtesy of the filmmakers, the Leiser brothers. To say it is like nothing I have ever seen would be an understatement.Those looking for the latest Hollywood "comedy" and it's scatological "humor" or the latest action film will find none of that here. This surreal film truly qualifies as avant-garde and presents a visual experience that will stay with you long after it's 70 minutes have ended. The score, done by Jeffrey Leiser, who co-wrote the script, is also magnificent and enhances the visual experience.The only thing in the film that approaches acting is the neuro-psychologist, played by Ed K. Gildersleeve. Of course, the poor scientist is as baffled as the parents when he cannot provide scientific explanation to what is going on.That is not hard to understand, as many do not come into contact with those suffering from Asperger syndrome, which is a high functioning autism disorder. From all those I have and am dealing with who have autism, I have only one that may be Asperger's. But don't let that prevent you from enjoying the ride through this film, especially if you are the type that likes to see science flummoxed in the face of the metaphysical.