This half-hour BBC documentary offers a revealing look at Svankmajer at work on "Death of Stalinism in Bohemia," and uses excerpts from his earlier films to trace the development of his unique sensibility.
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Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
This BBC production looking at the life and work of Jan Svankmajer is included on the disc "Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer: Vol. 2" and is worth your time--particularly because Svankmajer's films are so incredibly enigmatic. After seeing some of his films, the viewer naturally wants to know more about this unusual guy!! Unfortunately, while it does answer some questions, the film is pretty short. Plus, it only addresses the man's work up to about 1990. Now this is NOT to say you shouldn't see it--just understand that it's not complete. In the film you learn about the political aspects of his shorts, how surrealism is behind his projects and how a painter named Archimbaldo inspired his work--even though he lived several centuries ago.Be forewarned, however, that during part of the film you'll see a pig slaughtered. There is a reason for this--it isn't just gratuitous. But, many will find this rather disturbing.
James Marsh's documentary "The Animator of Prague" is a look at Czech cartoonist Jan vankmajer. vankmajer talks about not only animation as an art form, but also about having to work in Czechoslovakia back in the days when it was still under Soviet occupation. Prior to watching the documentary, I had never realized that there was any political content to his cartoons (except "The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia"). But, as vankmajer notes, many of the images that he shows might not make sense to anyone in 50 or 100 years.Anyway, if you've never seen any of his cartoons, you definitely should. They're some of the most impressive things out there.
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