Broken Down Film (1985)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Osamu Tezuka

Writer:

Osamu Tezuka (writer)

Release Date:

27 November 2002 (France)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Short

Plot:

A cowboy seeks to rescue, then woo, a damsel in distress. But he is constantly thwarted by the scratches, breaks, and other imperfections present in the film print itself. |

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | Film Splice | Film Break

Awards:

1 win

Runtime:

6 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Movie Connections:

Featured in Animation Celebration Video Collection Volume 1 (1991) (V)

An Animated Tour-de-Force

This is a real gem of a cartoon that doesn't deserve the obscurity under which it seems to have fallen. Nominally, it's supposed to be a silent animated Western melodrama. However, the real premise is that the film is a very old, very battered print that's full of scratches, breaks, bad splices, etc., which keep interfering with the hero, heroine, and villain in wildly surreal ways. The gags are excellent and there's something vaguely metaphysical in the way the physical medium of the film affects the story. Definitely one of my all-time favorites...