Tuesday 31 July 2012

Animated Discussion: Svankmajer's "Surviving Life"

Hem. Hem. My GreyDoll tribute picture here... after watching Jan Svankmajer's feature length animated film "Surviving Life" which is a mix of live-action and cut-out animation....

....Sorry, distracted here by reading a Guardian review of the film in which the writer said that the film be "reminiscent of  Terry Gilliam"... Scuse me!! I think that be the other way round. Huh? Well OK I think maybe Gilliam be not discovering Svankmajer until after he had done his "Monty Python" animating... but still a bit uneasy about the suggestion that Svankmajer's style be influenced by Gilliam's..... twiddle, twiddle, nit-pick goes I. Anyway here is a nice piece from the Independent (1997) where Gilliam interviews Svankmajer.

As you do know I be also fascinated by dreams and... animation... so this film be for me... funny, dark, dreamy and technically lovely. I have mentioned Svankmajer before but maybe not done him justice cos he be so important in world-cinema, adult/art type animation.

As you can see I have just posted the trailer for this film. The DVD gives extras including a behind the scenes view of the painstaking process (not least for the actors methinks) of making the cutouts and incorporating the animation and live action.

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