The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer

1984
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer
7.1| 0h14m| en| More Info
Released: 20 June 1984 Released
Producted By: Atelier Koninck
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

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Reviews

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) This is the Quay Brothers' tribute to Jan Svankmajer, a Czech animation filmmaker who is considered to be among the finest in history in the genre. I cannot really agree with that. I am not too b'much of a Svankmajer fan, but even less of the Quay Brothers probably. Then again, if you like darker animation, you will probably enjoy this 14-minute short film a lot more than I did. It was made over 30 years ago and consists of several very short films that, taken together, make up this quarter of an hour. My overall verdict is a negative one though because I usually prefer my animation bright and fluffy, but also the stories in here didn't do too much for me. Thumbs down.
Eumenides_0 Having recently become acquainted with Jan Svankmajer's work, I found it a wonderful piece of coincidence that I should discover the Quay brothers, brilliant stop-motion animators in their own right, through this short movie. Perhaps not a coincidence: they owe a lot to Svankmajer and this homage shows it.In Prague, a puppeteer takes in an apprentice. He opens his brain, empties it and symbolically fills with a book; evidently this is the imagination and knowledge the Quays have received from this master. This is the basic plot.But I'll argue we can also find a bigger world of inspirations in this movie. The puppeteer, with the book on his head is clearly a reference to Giuseppe Arcimboldo's famous picture, Librarian. At one point we see the cabinet reflected in a crystal ball, much like an M. C. Escher painting. And the dolls and puppets are themselves throwbacks to the early surrealist movies. This is a lovely celebration of weird art throughout history.As for the movie itself, it's inventive and sometimes creepy. The Quays have a talent for creating surreal imagery that exudes mystery and dread. This is a movie to delight in its strangeness. Still, it looks more like an introduction than something in its own right. I certainly hope the Quay brothers have more to offer.
inkybrown This is an excellent introduction to the work of the Quay Brothers and stop-motion animation. It is enjoyable for fans of Svankmajer, but also for fans of the painter Arcimboldo, whose paintings and characters are featured heavily in this short; most notably the Librarian, which is brought to 3D life as the lead puppet, and also characters from The Seasons, The Elements, and others: Vertumnus, Summer, Fire, and so forth. In fact, a subtitle in the film is Portrait of Svankmajer a la Arcimboldo. Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593) was an Italian painter known for creating portraits composed of fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books, all arranged in a fashion that constitutes a portrait of a character which is represented by all those diverse elements.
sageaqua The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer, is a delight if your looking for a strange puppet animation short film of the highest water. You've seen nothing like it, unless you've seen the perfect work of The Brothers Quay. For fans, like myself of strange animation, and Fans, like myself of The Rocky Horror Picture Show this is that perfect short film to wet your appetite.