The films of Jan Švankmajer

One of the most famous animators in the world, Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer has produced a great number of bizarre and disturbing short films, as well as five equally weird feature length films (with another coming out in November).

I spent a long time trying to decide what my first post should be about, and eventually my love for the weird and unusual led me to choose surrealism. But surrealism in itself is a lot more than just weird art. The movement started as a reaction to war with Dadaism, which rejected rational values that they believed led us into conflict and war, and the Dadaists produced a kind of 'anti-art' in order to portray this philosophy. In many ways, though, a painting that depicts an abstract concept or idea, as opposed to a painting of a realistic object or scene, is somewhat closer to the reality of human thought. At least, that's what surrealists believe, and I'm inclined to agree. Paintings like these (below) by Salvador Dali portray the chaos and horror of war more vividly and more accurately, perhaps, than more traditional styles could:

Salvador Dali himself produced a short film entitled 'Un Chien Andalou', but Švankmajer made his career in surrealist stop-motion film-making, with his famous début Alice (Něco z Alenky), in 1988, being perhaps his most well-known work.

There are so many of his films I could choose to write about, but I'll just pick a few of my favourites. Firstly, Dimensions of Dialogue (Možnosti dialogu), the most famous and celebrated of his short films, consists of three scenes showing the limitations of communication between people. It has occurred to me that people reading this might want to watch these videos first, in order to interpret them in their own way, so I'll post the videos below before I start blabbering on about them. If not, feel free to ignore the links and continue reading~

Dimensions of Dialogue - Part 1

Dimensions of Dialogue - Parts 2 and 3

The second and third scenes are the most interesting to me. While the first scene, 'Factual Dialogue', shows humanity's innate desire for the destruction of all that is different to ourselves, the second scene, 'Passionate Dialogue', shows how we can overcome our fear of each other in order to love each other. The object that comes between them, however, is something born out of themselves, and is thus inescapable. In the end, they destroy each other. The third scene, 'Exhaustive Dialogue', on the other hand, shows how our communication relies on a correct response from whoever we are communicating with, and shows the danger of miscommunication. Hence, shoes are covered with toothpaste, butter is spread on a pencil, and the clay faces collapse with the effort of trying to make themselves understood.

Food - Part 1

Food - Parts 2 and 3

Most likely due to his difficulties with food as a child, and the traumatic methods used by his doctors and parents in order to try to fix his dietary problems, Švankmajer seems to be obsessed with food. I think Food (Jídlo) may be my favourite Švankmajer short film, because it showcases that typically dark surrealist humour, particularly in 'Lunch', where the two customers in the restaurant are kept waiting so long for their food that they end up eating everything in sight.

I made the mistake of watching Food while eating my lunch, and I wouldn't advise doing the same - in fact, that goes for most Švankmajer films. Somehow, watching his films, I often feel awed and disgusted at the same time. But if you're not too sickened, and not put off by the creepiness of his films, it's impossible not to appreciate Švankmajer's imagination, the impressiveness of his animation, and the uniqueness of his films.

If you're interested in seeing one of his longer films, I recommend Little Otik (Otesánek), an adaptation of a Czech folk tale in which a couple who are unable to have a baby decide to carve one out of wood. The baby comes to life and demands food, but its hunger is never satisfied.

Little Otik - Trailer

Well, that's all for my first post. I will continue searching for more good things, and I'll be certain to post again when I do~