Picassos äventyr

I found this at a local indie video store I used to frequent, and was a little surprised. But it is a good movie, with Picasso's life played for laughs(watch for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolkas played by men in drag!)The humor alternates between the cerebral and the scatalogical, but it is an interesting little piece, proving that intellectuals can appreciate satire and comedy as well as anyone else.

This movie contains so many weird and funny things that I think you could watch it 100 times and still discover new things in every scene! Every little detail is just so perfect and thought through. Things that you discover first after a while, i.e. that Picassos father is saying halvliter ("half liter") instead of "Heil Hitler". All the acting throughout the movie is spectacular. It has to be since all of the language in the movie (except for the narrator) is just rubbish really. Everything they "say" is enforced by acting and it's impressing how one can understand an entire movie without any real language. This is simply a thoughtful, beautiful, weird, spectacular, funny, great, epic movie. Watch it!

I saw this film while in Hungary (even funnier with Hungarian subtitles - cause it looks so incomprehensible!).

Sadly, when I rented it here in the USA, I discovered that a large chunk of the film dealing with Picasso in New York during the prohibition of modern art, and his subsequent trial and escape had been ruthlessly cut by the US censors. Criminal. Can't we Americans relax and learn to laugh at ourselves, too??

Nonetheless, this is a hilarious film and, as Monty Python so often does, draws on our knowledge of history to make it's fractured-fairytale point. Strongly recommended for those who love wacky (though sometimes slightly sophomoric) humor with a light intellectual touch.

Gösta Ekman, you will be missed. If you enjoy comedies like "The Holy Grail" you definitely have to see "The Adventures of Picasso". This film is truly something unique. It blends humour and surrealism while at the same time featuring some of the best slapstick and satire from Swedish cinema. The sets, the effect work and the animation is all fantastic. And especially for the time it was made. There are so many strange and absurd jokes in this that I'm sure Alejandro Jodorowsky himself would have loved this. It's a celebration of the history of art that's also just a really fun time. Recommended!

I also picked up this film on VHS at an independent video store, and I was very taken with it. First, the film is a masterpiece of physical acting. Even thought they were speaking a number of different European languages, without subtitles, I had no problem understanding what was going on. It also makes wonderful use of surrealist imagery. I don't know a lot about Picasso, but I imagine someone who did would find this a fresh and entertaining take on the life of the man. Like a piece of Picasso's art, this movie is beyond language, I was left feeling like I knew how the man thought. If you enjoy physical comedy, this may be the most highbrow movie of that kind you'll ever see.