Harvie Krumpet

Harvie Krumpet is one excellent story. Very dark at times but also a reflection of life. As Harvie's life unfolds you can't help but think, yep life is like that. It's very funny, very sad and also very true.

My family sat down tonight to watch Harvie on SBS (Australian TV station) and we all fell in love with Harvie. Our ages ranging from 29 through to 85, we all all found something we could relate to in Harvie. Excellent storytelling, plenty of dark humour and a character you can't but help love.

The story and the humanity we see in Harvie is what makes Harvie Crumpet so appealing. There is also excellent Claymation that adds many dimensions to the characters. The expressions upon the characters faces truly add to the story that is being told. Each character is expressive and unforgettable. An excellent example of great story telling.

Go Harvie!!!!

I saw this when it was coming out. I remember it stroke me as incredibly fresh and imaginative. Part of this might be because i was at quite a different stage in my life through films. But now, 7 years later, this still retains a lot of its appeal. It's not been so long, but this still works on all its purposes, humor and visuals.

The skill in the making of this is top notch in every respect, of course. The characters, and such a film is absolutely all about characters are great in how the specificities of clay are used to convey absolutely every emotional nuance.

The story is a good piece of writing, using the always powerful combination of tragedy and comedy, something Chaplin understood so well. I think we cry deeper when we feel we shouldn't be laughing. It's the contrast that creates the power. By taking you to extremes of fun, enabling you to laugh, and suddenly pulling the rug out of your feet, writers leave you in a state of inner shame, which we interpret with uneasiness. Or it's the simple overlapping of comedy bits over a tragic environment. But i go with the first possibility.

Geoffrey Rush is great as an actor, and he brings that subtlety to his voice over.

But what probably caught my mind and makes this last is the clever framing they use. The "Fakts" as they're spelled in the film. Harvie spends his live registering unusual bizarre views of the world, in little sentences he calls (taught by his mother) fakts. These thoughts mirror what goes on happening to him throughout his life, filtered through Harvie's crippled yet beautiful mind. The fun is in how each fakt never reproduces correctly what really happens, and so it becomes a kind of a comment on the story itself. Born from it, but exterior to it, a separate element, clearly represented by the book Harvie carries strapped around his neck always, even when he's naked. Great stuff.

My opinion: 4/5

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I came upon this film by accident--the Australian production company approached my company to license music for "Harvie Krumpet", and after looking at Adam's earlier films we agreed. When I received a VHS tape of Harvie, I was thrilled, not just because of our music, (we got paid whether it was good or not) but because I felt a sense of discovery for a very unique talent and world view. Harvie's world of deadly boredom mixed with equal parts of magic and joy sets this film apart. It seems that Adam Elliot has a great mix of talent--an eye for clever animation with a mind for the daily collision of ordinary and extraordinary.

Geoffrey Rush is understated yet still expressive in his narration. But the film belongs to Adam Elliott with his sight gags and "what really is the difference between tragedy and comedy" mindset.

I first saw Harvie Krumpet in my high school science class. That class is amazing at being loud and obnoxious. People are regularly yelling across the room, throwing stuff, blaring music at full blast, and generally making the teacher's job very difficult. In fact, earlier in the class, two students had got into a verbal fight, yelling obscenities at each other for what seemed like ages. So when the teacher told us he was going to show a little animated film that I had heard of, one called Harvie Krumpet, I was a bit weary.

Harvie Krumpet it a claymation short running in at about 20 minutes, that details the life of an extremely unlucky man. The animation is crude yet not without its charm, the music is sparse but quite appropriate, and the story is flat out bizarre. In short, it was something I assumed my class would talk through. But I was wrong.

In the beginning, everybody was a bit weirded out by the style, and didn't really grasp it. They quickly adapted however and were soon laughing out loud at almost every joke the movie flung. People went 'awww' at the cute moments, said 'poor Harvie' at the bad, and as said before, laughed at the funny. But the moment I knew there was something special in this short was near the end. The was a moment of uncertainty where there was complete silence. Not a soul was speaking, or even breathing. For the first time ever in that class, everybody was quiet. You could literally feel different emotions coming from everyone. And when it was all over, as everybody was walking out of class, I didn't hear one person who didn't have something positive to say about Harvie Krumpet.

And I think that's what makes Harvie Krumpet so great; it can invoke feelings in everyone, from all walks of life. Despite being so different from the norm, everybody could appreciate the simple life that Harvie lead. Never before have I seen a movie with such an ability as that. And I'm unsure if I ever will again.

I rented the DVD out last week to watch the film that made Australia proud by winning that shiny gold Oscar.

This movie was short, it was only twenty minutes, but in that twenty minutes you become part of the little soul that is Harvie Krumpet, the animation was done by stop motion/claymation (which is tedious, trust me I study animation). The story is funny and sad at the same time and I promise you, once you watch it they'll be only 'one song' you'll be singing!

And you feel engaged in the film thanks to the great narration done by Geoffrey Rush, he has one of those powerful voices.

I rate this movie 10/10 and recommend it to everyone and anyone studying animation.

Thank you.