Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora

'The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)' is a delight. It's over a hundred years old, but it still holds up as a genuinely entertaining and impressive piece. It's a stop-motion short film that uses dead bugs as puppets. As morbid as that is, it's also really inventive. It helps that the animation is really good, packed with plenty of small details that make its characters feel alive. That's even more special when you consider that this was one of the first stop-motion films ever released. The picture is entertaining right the way through, even if it is a tad slow in places, and it has a wicked sense of dry humour that made me laugh on more than one occasion. Most of its humour comes from the dichotomy between its story and its aesthetics; it's a film about infidelity and its cast is entirely composed of posthumously animated insects. There's nothing fantastical about its narrative at all, which is why it's so intriguing and, in an almost odd way, funny. The bugs drive cars, they live in houses, they have jobs, they paint pictures, they go to clubs, they watch movies, they use cameras, they have spouses (which they cheat on), they enact vengeance, they brawl and they make out (and, yes, seeing this is as exactly as strange as you'd think it would be). It's so bizarre that these bugs live ordinary lives and make the same mistakes as us humans; this is where its comedy comes from. It's keenly aware of its uncanny nature and takes full advantage of it. It's incredibly charming overall. It's enjoyable, funny and impressive. It's a real treat. 8/10.

Władysław Starewicz's best known short is "Mest' kinematograficheskogo operatora" ("The Cameraman's Revenge" in English). The plot involves an extramarital affair, but the story gets told using insects! It goes to show that animation doesn't have to be "cute". Some of those cartoons from animation's infancy were outright surreal. More importantly, these shorts are more interesting than these animated features starring the celebrity of the moment. A trick that this one uses is the title of the movie getting shown in the theater (Russian-speakers will recognize it).

A nice little short. Check it out.

In this 1912 film, the main characters are insects (except for a vaudeville frog). Using, I assume, stop-action animation, we are told the story of two beetles who have a turbulent marriage. Mr. Beetle goes off to a nightclub where he cavorts with a beautiful dragonfly. In the process, he anger a grasshopper who is a filmmaker. The guy gets upset and films Mr. Beetle's dalliance. Mrs. Beetle also has an affair with an artist bug who comes to her house and is discovered by the cheating husband. There is indeed revenge. Had the story been told with regular actors, it would not have been much. What was done with early century technology is striking.

This short is a puzzlement. Words fail me here, as this is almost indescribable, Technically exceptional after more than 90 years (the visuals are remarkable and even occasionally amazing), this is not something you watch if you like things that are mundane or "normal'-because it most certainly is not either. This be an odd one, gang. Well worth checking out, but if things like Ren and Stimpy make your head hurt, you may want to skip this. Recommended.

Ladislas Starewicz's curiosity with insects and cinema melds into a short film about a love triangle between Mr. Beetle, an artistic grasshopper, and Mrs. Beetle. The rather simple story of an adulterous beetle couple that both seek stimulation outside their marriage is similar to a Biograph or Vitagraph short of the time. Starewicz's twist on the story is to use embalmed beetles with wires straightening the legs in frame-by-frame animation. The story builds as Mr. Beetle is unknowingly caught on camera with a dragonfly from the local nightclub by a jealous grasshopper. When Mr. Beetle comes home to find his wife in the arms of her artistic friend, he chases her around angrily, but eventually forgives her and takes her out to see a movie. However, Mrs. Beetle soon learns of her husband's infidelities as the movie they watch is the jealous grasshopper's footage of Mr. Beetle and the dragonfly together. Mrs. Beetle thrashes Mr. Beetle with her umbrella, Mr. Beetle jumps through the screen, and they both end up in jail after the projector they wreck catches on fire. The insects are placed in humanized settings such as a house or a nightclub, and are given human characteristics of jealousy, anger, lust, and revenge. The insect characters carry briefcases, drive motorcars, and even wear shoes yet they also twitch their antennae and open and close their mandibles as real insects would. The novelty of the story doesn't wear itself out, even after multiple viewings, but as fluid as the movements are, the film moves slowly. Action happens with intricate detail, but rapidity and a quicker pace of filming is lost in the process. Despite its pace, the film is an excellent example of Starewicz's early puppetry and is highly recommended.