I perceive this film to be a watershed in the brother's oeuvre. The early films, including "Street of Crocodiles (1986)", owe much to Svankmajer, and in some respects are still made in his shadow.
I have rarely been as visually stimulated as I was during this film and its 11 minutes. The amazing focus shifts and the movement of the camera have such a visual aura around them it's difficult to exactly decipher why they are so effective cinematically. The most astonishing sequence is the one with the two puppets in the dark room, the camera moving horizontally to the right revealing a brightly lit corridor with a great set of stairs, then back to the dark room again, then moving vertically, then moving in the depth, dimensionally, then back again, then to the right, revealing another beautiful brightly lit structure, a hallway of sorts. This film exhibits not only brilliant use of light, it's a groundbreaking use of space and as such stands as one of the greatest film moments I know of (I really have to make a list of these).
Zeitgeist and BFI have released it in Regions 1 and 2 respectively, and it's basically the same release. It has this film both in its original aspect ratio of 16:9 widescreen as well as in Scope (2.35:1).
I have rarely been as visually stimulated as I was during this film and its 11 minutes. The amazing focus shifts and the movement of the camera have such a visual aura around them it's difficult to exactly decipher why they are so effective cinematically. The most astonishing sequence is the one with the two puppets in the dark room, the camera moving horizontally to the right revealing a brightly lit corridor with a great set of stairs, then back to the dark room again, then moving vertically, then moving in the depth, dimensionally, then back again, then to the right, revealing another beautiful brightly lit structure, a hallway of sorts. This film exhibits not only brilliant use of light, it's a groundbreaking use of space and as such stands as one of the greatest film moments I know of (I really have to make a list of these).
Zeitgeist and BFI have released it in Regions 1 and 2 respectively, and it's basically the same release. It has this film both in its original aspect ratio of 16:9 widescreen as well as in Scope (2.35:1).