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 Tale of Tales More at IMDbPro »Skazka skazok (original title)

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27 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
A Visual Feast, 6 October 2002
Author: thecygnet (thecygnet@freemail.hu) from Budapest, Hungary

In most people's head the animation film is connected to Disney movies or to Japanese manga animation films, which are very hip nowadays. But everyone seems to overlook Russian animators. The most influential of them is Yuri Norstein, whose timeless masterpiece was awarded at the festival of animation films in Los Angeles in 1984 and at many other film festivals throughout the world. But why is this short half-an-hour movie so beautiful?

Firstly, because Norstein has a matchless visual style. I expected something special after I've read about the film and before I saw it but what I got is something extraordinary: breathtaking pictures, fantastically clever use of mixed media, fine classical music. Secondly, because of the complex, symbol-ridden story, which is rooted in the Russian mythology. The story is about childhood innocence, the loss of the loved ones and the duty of the artist. It's very European, very Eastern-European and because I'm from Hungary and our past is very similar, this animation film is much closer to me than the American or Japanese ones.

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26 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Thirty Minutes of Tenderness, Beauty and Perfection, 6 October 2004
10/10
Author: Galina from Virginia, USA

I love "Triplets of Bellville" and I admire "Spirited Away" but "Skazka skazok (Tale of Tales)" (1979) is the pinnacle of the genre - what Tarkovsky did in Zerkalo, Norstein had achieved in his 30 minutes film that was made 25 years ago. His incredible images accompanied by the music of Mozart, Bach, and the famous tango "The Wayworn Sun" - the same one Nikita Mikhalkov used in his film "Burnt by the Sun" - bring to life forever gone but always alive in one's heart happiness, innocence, and memory of the childhood that are indelible from the history of the country and the Artist's search for the beauty and meaning. The images or the war are absolutely heartbreaking. There are no combats on the screen but the scenes with the dancing couples, the men going to the war, and the notifications of death ("pochoronki") flying like birds of death to waiting in hope women: mothers, wives, and sisters are unforgettable. Norstein is known for being a perfectionist - his resume includes only six films - combined, they last less than 80 minutes. Each of the minutes is perfection itself. Norstein puts a piece of his heart in every single frame of his small gems. He is the Artist and the Humanist - one of the best directors ever, and not only in Animation.

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21 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
The little grey wolf will come, 29 April 2007
10/10
Author: ackstasis from Australia

The human memory does not operate in a straightforward, linear manner. We do not remember events in neat chronological order, nor do we always immediately understand the meaning behind what we are seeing. Our memories are a jumble of seemingly-random but ultimately connected images, sporadically jumping between remembered places and moments, associations triggered by the repeated appearance of deceptively mundane but eerily familiar objects. There is much to be learned from exploring the unfathomable depths of the mind, and Russian animator Yuriy Norshteyn's 'Tale of Tales' strives to do exactly that.

In 1984, in an event held in conjunction with the Los Angeles Olympics, the Animation Olympiad jury attempted to recognise the single greatest animated film of all time. Despite a wealth of worthy candidates, one film was ultimately crowned with the grand title: that film, of course, was 'Tale of Tales.' Two decades later, at the 2002 Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films, the same film was honoured with the same prestigious title, confirming beyond doubt that time has done nothing to dampen its beauty. Norshteyn's masterpiece is a triumph of stunning animation, ambient sound and a stirring classical score. Despite being held in such high regard by so many animation experts, I was surprised to discover how rare and under-seen this film actually is. Only via the internet was I able to watch it, and my hearing about it in the first place can be put down to blind luck. Needless to say, I am infinitely grateful that I did stumble upon the film one day.

'Tales of Tales' is comprised of a number of related sequences, which are interspersed within each other. The film uses several recurring characters, most notably the poet, the little girl playing jump-rope with the disheartened bull, the young boy feeding apples to the crows, the dancers and the soldiers, the suckling baby and, of course, the little grey wolf (voiced by Aleksandr Kalyagin). The meanings behind the film's poignant images are somewhat beyond words, and, even if you have absolutely no desire to try and decipher the rich symbolism, you can still simply sit back and take in the awesome beauty. The sequences involving the dancers are most certainly an allegory for Russia's involvement in World War Two. The vanishing male dance partners, replaced by hooded Grim Reapers who retreat solemnly into the distance, highlight the enormous human losses the Soviet Union suffered on the Eastern Front.

The original title of the short, 'The Little Grey Wolf Will Come,' was derived from a traditional Russian lullaby, which is featured in the film in both instrumental and vocal form: "Baby, baby, rock-a-bye / On the edge you mustn't lie / Or the little grey wolf will come / And will nip you on the tum / Tug you off into the wood / Underneath the willow-root." This title, however, was ultimately rejected by the Soviet censors, and Norshteyn was forced to choose another one. He eventually decided upon 'Tale of Tales,' the title of a poem by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, of which the director had been a fan since 1962: "We stand above the water - sun, cat, plane tree (platanus tree), me / and our destiny. / The water is cool, / The plane tree is tall, / The sun is shining, / The cat is dozing, / I write verses. / Thank God, we live!" The film employs an original music score by Mikhail Meyerovich, supplementing his contributions with the classic works of Bach, Mozart and the World War Two era tango, 'Weary Sun,' written by Jerzy Petersburski.

Curiously, 'Tale of Tales' – completed in 1979 – is the most recent film directed by Yuriy Norshteyn. This, however, does not mean that he has not been working hard. Ever since 1981, the director has dedicated most of his time to producing 'Shinel / The Overcoat,' his 60-minute labour of love, adapted from Nikolai Gogol's short story of the same name. Throughout a production period plagued with interruptions and financial difficulties, Norshteyn's ardent perfectionism has earned him the nickname, "The Golden Snail." A release date for 'The Overcoat' is currently uncertain, but, if the magnificent 'Tale of Tales' is anything to go by, we are all in for a treat!

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13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Memory and Emotion, 18 March 2002
10/10
Author: Daniel Yates from Montreal, Canada

I must discuss the Russian Yuri Norstein's stunning "Tale of Tales". Like the films of another great Russian filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky, this film is about memory and nostalgia. The uses of various techniques of animation, primarily cutouts, not only let us see Norstein's memories, but also help illustrate their dream-like qualities. There are events in this film that, taken literally, could not have happened. However Norstein represents these memories metaphorically, thereby making their emotional impact greater than were he to simply illustrate his memories in a straight forward narrative.

There are a couple of moments that reflect the above-mentioned statement that I feel I must include in this entry. I loved the scene where the little boy is standing in the snow eating an apple , looking up at some crows on a tree branch. The boy then appears on the branch, buddies up with the crows and shares his apple with them. This is a great, moving, but non-sentimental image that lets us feel the child's desire for friendship. Just after that, his father, whose Napoleon hat identifies him as a tyrant, yanks him out of his daydream. The little boy at first struggles, but then a little Napoleon hat appears on his head and he marches in file behind his dad. This scene reminded me of the Disney WWII era short "Education for Death", in that it also is about childhood innocence being destroyed by adults conditioning their behavior. But where "Education." was a didactic propaganda tool, "Tale of Tales" simply shows how sad and unfortunate it is for adults to do that to children, and illustrates it in such a poetic way.

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9 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
One of the most beautiful animated films of all time., 27 November 2000
Author: will-162 from Austin, TX USA

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.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Dusty Wintery Soviet Memory, 11 March 2010
6/10
Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

All animation revels in the smallest movements, this one revels in the smallest moments. About as narrative as you could call the average early Bunuel, this movie is an obvious inspiration of the surrealistic cut-outs of Terry Gilliam and even hints towards the escapist fantasy of Where the Wild Things Are. As for what's going on here itself, well, a lot and not so much.

The scenes are basically interlaced by a small story of a wolf getting by, his accidental abduction of a child, and his eagerness to live a human life. Meanwhile a sort of war narrative takes place where dancing women lose their partners to a train heading off to war, replaced by a newspaper/mailer detailing fragments of the soldiers' deaths. Classical music and jazz are mixed as a family sits on the seaside and picnics. Furthermore, a young boy eats an apple and shares it with some crows, though his drunken father drag him away. A real mix of animation styles all fits into the animation's own personal style, so at least there's continuity there.

Unfortunately I can't make a whole lot more out of it, except in the ways in which it lives in Soviet memory and the grunginess of winter and war. Still, it's fascinating to watch.

--PolarisDiB

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9 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
sometimes make you feel bitter, sometimes smile with tears, 20 February 2003
10/10
Author: lixin,Xie (lixinovich@yahoo.com.cn) from Shanghai, China

Great film. The scene of child with birds remind me the almost same scenes form Andrei Tarkovsky's "the Mirror". I see this film on DVD(the collection of Russian Animation films), the effect is marvelous! The total film like a dream, sometimes make you feel bitter, sometimes smile with tears. I like the prelude and fuge by Bach in this film, and the tango music is also used in Nikita Mikhalkov's film " Burnt by the Sun". The Great film(not only the animation film) I have ever seen.

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Still life, with a pulsating heartbeat., 10 March 2012
9/10
Author: Nick-leonardi from USA

Different surreal, mysteriously connected scenes intertwine one another, distant memories that seem to come from another time. Formed by enigmatic sequences of sounds and images that flow like a stream of consciousness, Tale Of Tales is the masterpiece of acclaimed animator Yuri Norstein, popular for his enchanting cutout animation and for his Folklore based stories veiled in bold experimentation. The typically Russian strokes of melancholia haunt the entire twenty seven minutes of duration of the short, without avoiding some inevitable grimness. The scene of the kid with the crows, the country side in a fishbowl, the seemingly abandoned house, are all unforgettable sceneries that move and touch, without ever using words. Important mention to the outstandingly beautiful music that gives a noticeable difference to the magically remote atmosphere.

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Raises animation to the level of the very best art cinema, 25 February 2012
10/10
Author: Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C.

Grand Prize winner at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films Russian director Yuri Norstein's Tale of Tales (alternately titled The Little Grey Wolf Will Come) was named by the 1984 Animation Olympiad jury at the L.A. Olympics as the greatest animated film of all time. Written by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya and Norstein, like Tarkovsky's Zerkalo (The Mirror), it consists of fleeting images, snippets of memory from the director's life. According to Norstein, the film was inspired by the poem Tale of Tales by Nazim Hikmet:

"We stand above the water - sun, cat, plane tree, me and our destiny. The water is cool, The plane tree is tall, The sun is shining, The cat is dozing, I write verses. Thank God, we live!"

The film opens with a grey wolf singing a Russian lullaby to a baby in a cradle:

"Baby baby rock-a-bye On the edge you mustn't lie Or the little grey wolf will come And will nip you on the tum Tug you off into the wood Underneath the willow-root."

Backed by an original score by Mikhail Meerovich and the music of Bach and Mozart, images roll by, some repeated during the film, without any apparent connection: a sad eyed grey wolf nurturing a little baby, a boy eating a green apple, then feeding it to the crows, a passive bull skipping rope with a small girl, men and women's dancing interrupted by soldiers, a woman sitting on a bench with her drunk husband, a man and his son wearing Napoleon hats ostensibly going off to war, women mourning the death of loved ones in the war, apples falling in the snow, among others. Norstein describes the film as being "about simple concepts that give you the strength to live."

Claire Kitson, former Commissioning Editor of Animation for the UK's Channel 4, in her book about the film: Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales – An Animator's Journey by Clare Kitson. London, U.K., & Bloomington, IN: John Libbey & Indiana University Press, 2005), says that the images are not metaphors but actual events in the director's life. For instance, the woman sitting in a bench with a drunk husband comes from a couple casually spotted by co-writer Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, the apple from a happy and tasty experience of Norstein eating an apple while walking in the street during the winter, and the old house from the actual house that he dwelled in during his childhood.

But she warns that "the film is about memory and ...is also constructed like a memory" and adds: "this is achieved by the construction of a set of parallel worlds: the old house with, nearby, an old streetlight and the setting for wartime scenes; the poet's world, where a fisherman's family also lives and a bull and a walker come to visit; the snowbound winter world of the boy and the crows; and the forest next to a highway, where the Little Wolf makes his home under the brittle willow bush. In short, we must appreciate bull, poet, wolf, house, snow and so on not like metaphors of something else, but like bricks in a palace, notes in a symphony."

Selecting it as one of the fifteen greatest "seeking" films of all time, directors Gregory and Maria Pears described it on their website www.cinemaseekers.com as follows: "Through its philosophical depths, its visionary language and its use of sound and music, it raises animation to the level of the very best art cinema. Norstein is a consummate artist, who insists on painting every frame himself. The result is the totally unique evocation of his spiritual world that could only have been rendered through animation - no other cinematic form would have sufficed."

Enigmatic, magically beautiful, and very moving, Tale of Tales is a work of art that you cannot figure out but can only experience just by letting it roll over you like a warm breeze.

The 27-minute film is available on You Tube with English subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_q3WoYawNI

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Beautiful short, 14 June 2010
10/10
Author: Rectangular_businessman from Peru

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is one of the most beautiful and fascinating shorts ever made, I loved the animation and the music of this. After I saw "Hedgehog in the Fog" I became very interested in the Russian animation, but specially in the shorts of Yuriy Norshteyn.

This short is considered to be one of the best animations ever made, and I can clearly see why: Every single frame of this short are not only beautiful to look at, but also have a deep, emotional meaning. At first it seems like something confusing or disjointed (However it is still a absolute pleasure to watch) but after multiple viewings the intentions of the animators seem clearer. I am not sure if this is the best animation ever made, All I know is that I loved this.

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