The sandman

November 25th, 2007

Directed by Paul Berry.

Description (jhailey at hotmail dot com): On a dark night, as the clock strikes eight, a mother sends her child upstairs to bed with only a candle for light. The child is wary, then frightened. The child hears something climbing the stairs. We see a birdlike man, his head like a crescent moon, stealthily then noisily approach the child’s room. Mother appears to kiss the child good night. Has the sandman been a figment of the child’s imagination? Then, he appears in the child’s room and, as the child sleeps, leans over and takes something, leaps to the window, throws open the sash, and flies to a nest where two hungry fledglings cry. What has the sandman brought them?

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0105311/

Posted in children, dark, stop-motion, macabre, fairytale | 1 Comment »

Shazka skazok (Tale of Tales)

November 16th, 2007

Directed by Yuriy Norshteyn and written by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Yuriy Norshteyn.

Description: To my shame I have to admit I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t gotten around to watching this fully, just skipped through a few scenes, was impressed, so I’m just going to throw in a comment from IMDB that makes a good case: “Using a mix of puppet, cutout, and cell animation, Yuri Norstein made in Tale of Tales a heartbreaking, tenderly poetic meditation on Russian history as well as one of the most stunningly beautiful animated films ever. Very hard to get, but don’t miss a chance to see this film.”. Apparently this was also named the greatest animated film of all-time by the 1984 Animation Olympiad jury held in conjunction with the 1984 LA Olympics.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079986/

Posted in puppet, cutout, cell animation, history, touching, philosophical, russia, fairytale | No Comments »

Red hot riding hood

November 12th, 2007

Directed by Tex Avery.

Description (Reidar Lyng): Most of you probably know this classic cartoon already. Instead of the usual bit, the characters of the fairy-tale absolutely refuse to do the tale in the same old way. Little Red Riding Hood turns herself into the hottest singer in town, the wolf becomes a skirt chaser and grandma turns into a nymphomaniac. Mayhem ensues. Enjoy.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0036295/

Posted in MGM, cartoon, funny | No Comments »

Harvie Krumpet

November 9th, 2007

Directed and written by Adam Elliot.

Description (Jon Reeves): The sad, strange life of Harvie, who is born into an impoverished Middle European existence, and whose one constant is the book of “fakts” he keeps adding to, worn around his neck. After a childhood tragedy, he emigrates to Australia, where he has a succession of menial jobs, eventually ending up in a retirement home. Along the way, he has a string of bad luck, leaving him with, among other things, a steel plate in his skull that becomes a magnet.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0382734/

Posted in claymation, humanity, time, life and death, funny | No Comments »

When the day breaks

November 6th, 2007

Directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, written by Wendy Tilby.

Description: This Oscar nominee will seem strange at first seeing as it’s about people, but represented as animals, in a daily human environment, performing typical human actions. The point of the animation, as far as I can tell is to illustrate the interconnections between the lives in a big city, lives that even though at first sight may seem totally uninfluenced by one another, are actually connected, and sometimes in quite meaningful ways. However, I have not been able to elucidate the mystery of why the characters in this animation are animals. Maybe you have an idea?

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0200282/

Posted in urban life, minimalist, animals, conceptual, weird, classic animation | 1 Comment »
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