Toyland

2007 "1942: what happens when a German kid believes that his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland?"
Toyland
7.7| 0h13m| en| More Info
Released: 29 August 2007 Released
Producted By: Mephisto Film
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://mephistofilm.de/sites/filme_spielzeugland.html
Synopsis

On a winter morning, a mother goes to waken her son Heinrich; his bed is empty. She leaves her flat to find him. The neighbors' door, with a Star of David painted on it, is ajar, the furnishings in disarray, the family gone. She asks passersby, runs to the police then on to the rail yard. Flashbacks show that Heinrich and the neighbors' son Paul are six years old and best friends. Paul's family's deportation is expected soon; Heinrich's mother tells her son that they're going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to go with them, has a bag packed, and listens for their departure. His mother realizes he's joined them, and her resolve becomes more urgent. Will she arrive in time to save Heinrich?

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merelyaninnuendo Spielzeugland4 And A Half Out Of 5Spielzeugland is a plot driven short feature about a kid whose dream to visit an imaginative land and the catastrophe it breeds for the mother. The combination of fragile and destructive energy had never blended or compared to this extent, especially when it is fueled by the unseen force which is depicted metaphorically in multiple ways. It is rich on technical aspects like production design, editing and background score although the cinematography could have been a lot better, but it's a minor and a feasible flaw in this stunning masterpiece. The writing is smart, layered and adaptive that grows as it starts aging on screen and something that won't leave the audience even after the curtain drops; a though-provoking concept.The stunning camera work, morale conflicts, unfathomable intense drama and its eerie perspective are the high points of the features the helps elevate the momentum of the sequence. The screenplay by Bunners and Freydank is poetic with just the right amount of emotional touch that never overpowers the essential plot on screen and still manages to drive the whole feature with it. Jochen Alexander Freydank; the co-writer and director, has done an amazing work on executing the anticipated vision on screen whose impact leaves an endearing scar among the audience. It is scored majestically on the performance objective by Julia Jager whose portrayal helps convey the emotions out fluently. Spielzeugland is a maternal instinct gone wrong, projected at such a critical point, that no one possesses the potential to question it.
Enustik Toyland discusses a theme that has been discussed several times on different films: the Second World War. However, what makes this short film special is the sensibility of this portrait. Instead of showing the explicit violence of the war, it touches the audience by showing two kids - a German and a Jewish, who are best friends and are going to be separated because the Jewish boy's family is going to be sent to a concentration camp. In order to avoid shocking the young German boy, her mother says that his friend is going with his family to Toyland. The depiction of the effect of war through the eyes of kids is not something new: in a completely different tone, Janos Szasz has done the same in his adaptation of The Notebook, a novel written by Ágota Kristof; and The boy in the Striped Pyjamas has a similar story. However, even if the theme is not new, Toyland is still a surprisingly intense short film. It mixes scenes of the mother looking for her son after the Germans had taken the Jewish to the concentration camps and flashbacks of what happened before this - how close the two kids were and how the German boy decided to follow his friend to Toyland. And the plot twist at the end makes the story even more dramatic. Second World War is a sensitive topic, and it is amazing when we find a director that was able to portray it in such a touching way.
Kirpianuscus the films about Shoah are many. but "Toyland" is different. for its intensity. for its switch. for the exploration of an explanation and a fundamental decision. and, sure, for something who remains out of words. because it is a film about hope. and about miracle in a form who seems so easy to define than remains deep way impressive. a mother, her son, theirs neighbors.and a piano. nothing more but enough for a so intense film, profound provocative, than it becomes a serious challenge for the viewer. to become himself. in better version.
anhedonia "Toyland" is a film that works so brilliantly that it managed to be powerful, thought-provoking and even gut-wrenching than most Hollywood films that are 8 to 10 times longer. With sparse dialogue, director Jochen Alexander Freydank keeps us hooked throughout this superb short film.Set during the Holocaust, a German woman frantically searches for her son, who might have decided to accompany his Jewish neighbors to a Nazi concentration camp because the Jewish family's young son and her son are best friends.The film is elegantly shot and wonderfully acted. There is more poignancy and true emotion in this film than I have seen in most Hollywood films in recent times.Director Freydank moves his story along, with us always wondering not only what comes next but how this is going to end. And then comes the denouement: A truly remarkable twist that says much about the human spirit. It is a moment that will break your heart while simultaneously make you smile.If you have the chance to see this, and the other Oscar-nominated live action shorts, do yourself a favor and watch them. Believe me, it will be time much better spent than, say, on "New In Town" or most any other mainstream Hollywood film.