Tma/Svetlo/Tma

"Darkness/Light/Darkness" is one of the most creative films from Jan Svankmajer, if not exactly his best or most praised work. To be sure, it doesn't carry an underlying meaning as in "Dimensions of Dialogue" and it lacks the story aspect of some of his earlier, less characteristic work, but even despite all of this the short is guaranteed to be perhaps the most memorable one anyone watching Svankmajer's work could imagine. The creativity exercised is remarkable and the craft is brilliant, including the setting and stop motion that is genius and entertaining.

Svankmajer's film basically consists of a body constructing itself from a number of body parts inside what appears to be a doll's house. It's quite enjoyable watching the different parts figure out where they're supposed to go and what the final result looks like. The title seems to be unrelated initially, but thinking about its relative meaning to what's happening in the film, I think it's a reference to the first day in history after God created the heavens and the earth, thus making an allusion to the theme of creation that both the movie and the creation story share. Overall on par with all of Svankmajer's other work and it's no wonder it is so well known.a.

This 7 minutes short is a fascinating clay animation where a man constructs himself from clay (literally), being a God and his creature at the same time, putting the different parts of body together in a very small room. The more parts find their pace, the bigger the man becomes, the smaller and more suffocating the room gets. "Darkness-Light-Darkness" has been seen by many critics and viewers as a very strong allegory of suffocating life in Eastern Europe which is true, but I also see it as an allegory of a struggle every talented and deeply feeling artist goes through in the search for beauty and meaning regardless the political system or the country they live. From the darkness of non-existence to the light of knowledge to the unbearable darkness of being - that's the road Svankmajer takes us and as usual, his vision is not a cheerful or optimistic one.

his is one of the few short movies where my jaw was dropping almost throughout the entire presentation. I was stunned at what I was seeing, it looked so bizarre. What a genius idea and presentation!

Basically, what we see is a body being put together, putting itself together. It is a claymation (clay animation) film which all takes place in a single room which looks like a big doll house room.

We have only a hand to start, but soon there is a knock on the door and another hand comes in. Then there is a knock on the small window and in flies an ear. Well, actually two ears but molded together looking like a bat or a butterfly. To condense the story, we slowly see an entire body formed. How it's done is utterly fascinating with some things, as I said, that just had my jaw dropping. Some body parts look impossibly big to get through the door,but they manage.

This is very, very clever material and one of the short films I will never forget. It was part of the "Jan Svankmejer: The Ossuary And Other Tales" DVD.

My first entry in to Jan Svankmajer's world was with "Neco z Alenky", a surreal take on Alice in Wonderland that drew me in instantly. After watching "Neco z Alenky", I immediately started looking for more material by Jan Svankmajer, and I came across this little short animation which blew my mind out of the water.

During the 6 minutes of "Tma/Svetlo/Tma" (Darkness/Light/Darkness) we are invited to witness the different parts of the human male body entering a room separately and trying to figure out how to complete the human form. During this, the small room gets more and more crowded and difficult to move in. To me, the message this short gave me was that we should not aim higher than our capabilities, or we might end up with our goals crowding a small room, eventually turning off the light on it. But this is my interpretation, I've read several more interesting ones as well.

If you enjoy surreal / abstract cinema art, you owe it to yourself to watch this short as soon as possible, you will not be disappointed.

Each film of Jan Svankmajer is, for me , kick to wake up. Tma/Svetlo/Tma is one par excellence. Because it reminds the universe of Alice in the small room and its significances, the build of a body , in which the hands are the first workers , the sexual organs before the clay as material for the body . So, a seductive parable , poetic and profound useful.