Chronopolis

After watching so many of Piotr Kamler's short abstract animated films on YouTube and UbuWeb, I finally saw his feature from the early '80s on the latter site. I read the synopsis on Wikipedia afterwards and while I got what was supposed to be understood as happening reading that, there was no way I would have figured that out if I just watched this cold. Knowing that the original version was 66 minutes and had narration by Michael Lonsdale (this version just had French text at the beginning), I half wondered if that might have made this viewing more enjoyable. As it was, the unusual visuals were what managed to keep my eyes open for the entire 52 minutes not to mention the electronic score by Luc Ferrari. Those visuals included many giant heads with headgear resembling those of the Egyptian pyramids, several black balls swirling together and apart, lots of mountain climbers on ropes, and one of them falling before flying with a large white ball helping him. Also that person and that ball walk and bounce with joy after becoming "friends". Okay, so on that note, Chronopolis is worth a look for anyone interested in these artistically unusual animated films.

Stop-motion animation is always a gift, whatever the ends to which it's taken, but I think it's safe to say that Piotr Kamler's magnum opus goes well beyond the conventions of other such fare one may be familiar with. Inasmuch as a concrete tale is told, 'Chronopolis' is just as much a portrait of a place borne completely of Kamler's imagination, with technology and ideas of pure science fiction fancy. More than that, the feature is a demonstration of experimentation with techniques of film-making and animation. Just as essential to the movie as the painstaking movement piece by piece of every active element are rather whimsical uses of lighting and Michèle Peju's editing, producing transitions and otherwise imagery that feel quite novel. This is to say nothing of the fundamental labor of the editing process, nor the careful graphics that are laid on top of the animation at select points which are often so seamless that they look like they could also be part of the untouched footage. Moreover, Kamler photographs the film in a dynamic manner that at some points complements the fancifulness of the aforementioned aspects, and at many others works wonders to make this pretend destination feel like a living, breathing world. Truthfully, though it may not be as immediately striking as some other animated films in the same vein, this is pretty well extraordinary all around, and roundly excellent when all is said and done.

It surely can't be overstated how much detail was poured into the design of all the visuals, certainly including the facets that are manipulated to produce the appearance of fluid movement. An incredible amount of work went into creating this picture, over several years, and much of it from Kamler himself. Even though the writing is perhaps the least important part in this instance given the looseness of the storytelling, there can be no doubt that fashioning that tale even such as it is, a foundation for the whole, was a major commitment of time and passion. Just as much to the point, the conceptual planning of the imagery, the animation, and the cinematography is difficult to even fathom; as arduous as the process is for traditional hand-drawn or computer-generated animation whether 2D or 3D, it seems the development of 'Chronopolis' unquestionably had to be even more meticulous and grueling. The end result can only be the culmination of extreme love and passion to see the project through, for the complexity of the construction is beyond my reckoning.

With all this having been said, it's reasonable to suppose that the title isn't one likely to appeal to the average moviegoer. This is an exploration of art and technique, an act of playful creativity and inventiveness, and it is a great achievement on its own merits. It's also emphatically not the type of narrative fiction that commonly draws in even the more niche audiences, and the storytelling as it presents is mostly minimal and a little amorphous - broad ideas more than the especial illumination of a saga, except perhaps in the latter half. Yet it says so very much about Kamler's skill and intelligence that even without the prominence of elements that commonly attract one to a feature it's more than interesting enough, engaging and compelling, to draw one in, hold our attention, and entertain. What "plot" there is is highly enjoyable, and all the marvelous visuals in and of themselves would be more than to make this well worth watching. 'Chronopolis' exists well outside most any meaningful norms of cinema, but despite or possibly because of that is all the more intriguing, captivating, and rewarding as we watch. Though mileage will vary considerably for general audiences, cinephiles with an appreciation for all the wide, weird, wonderful possibilities of the medium are sure to be delighted. If you have the chance to check out 'Chronopolis,' this is well worth seeking out.

We will probably never achieve anything as great as Chronopolis again. But if we ever top this it will be with a portal to Chronopolis. Sensational!

If I haven't convinced you yet than this surely will: In Chronopolis, where whispers flibberglops zindlewinks, splotches time and a blurfles in squoon wibberjam. Trees jellyfish snerk while bounce gloobers twizzleflats through. Each moment blorptastic flickers the snorf of gigglespouts! Twirl dinglewhirls in chaos kaleidoscope, and like logic a wumble dissolves. Soar fizzlebats plinkertops over, hymns the singing drindle of. Join frabblefump the, reveals every blumble a zanyflop! Beckons Chronopolis-snazzle be the, gloob revel in the!

Chronopolis has awed me more than most any animated production I have ever seen. There is currently little information available about this and Piotr Kamler's other films. There have been showings at several festivals and events, but Kamler's work is quite difficult to find. A small company in Boston had released Chronopolis on VHS for a short while in the late 1980's or so, and I was fortunate enough to get to see a decent transfer of it.

Chronopolis was a French-Polish co-production with a story by Kamler and music from Luc Ferrari of the INA/GRM electroacoustic studios. The story is fascinating, and the style in which it is told remarkable. There is no dialog to explain what happens, just some brief opening narration to set the scene (I missed this, as I know little French). There is an obsessed mountain climber. And elsewhere, a city with enigmatic inhabitants who control matter. The apparently omniscient Chronopolitans are able to see this mountain climber in his world, deciding to contact him to reveal their hidden existence. To do so, they manipulate basic matter though a sort of alchemy, culminating in an intelligent sphere which departs to meet the man. The interactions between the sphere and the man are mostly jovial, but trying to meet the inhabitants of Chronopolis themselves is not so simple.

The story is indeed told entirely through pictures and music. This is much a process of sharing the discoveries of the characters with them, and so does require some patience. The film might appear to move slowly to a person hoping for dialog or a more conventional film narrative, but I expect that those who can appreciate the attention to detail here will relish it. Most movies which use 3D animation use it in a more cartoonish, "claymation" effect, whereas the sculpture here tends towards a less exaggerated appearance. In many ways, the city of Chronopolis is the main character itself. How the place is depicted is a fine balance between organic fluidity and grown technology, with the larger than life grandeur of an abandoned city from a lost Earth civilization, such as those from Egypt and Central America. The Chronopolitans may appear to be a refined culture, with vast knowledge and abilities, but is their contact ultimately nothing more than a time capsule from a dead (or closed) culture? Or is this perhaps a land of mythology, with different characteristics and rules than ordinary life, where they are in a unique position to comment on our world?

The amount of thought and effort which must have gone into this production is astonishing. The locations and characters are mostly realized in clay, or some other kind of 3D sculpture, augmented by some occasional illustrated details. Luc Ferrari's soundtrack is tasteful, the relatively subdued nature suiting the quiet locations and introspective tone of many scenes. The sound palette ranges from what sounds like treated minimal piano, to rhythmic concrete noises.

Seeing Chronopolis makes me wonder why Kamler's animation is not more readily available for viewing, I would really love to see some of his other work. Not easy to track down, but if you are in the mood to see some thoughtful animation which is a bit different than those from, for instance, Svankmajer and Quay; then perhaps you should try to find Chronopolis.

EDIT: It appears that the print I saw was the original, longer version. Kamler doesn't allow this version to be shown any longer, preferring instead a shorter version edited for less repetition. I prefer the longer version. As other reviewers have noted, this is not a spoon-fed story. It is hypnotic and repetitive, which affords it a rhythm which is more like music than narrative film. And it is definitely not, in my opinion, a children's movie! Unless your children are patient and have a taste for the esoteric.

This movie rules, easily one of the better movies I've ever seen. I don't even speak french but it doesn't really matter because there aren't many words in it. This is nice because the Luc Ferrari soundtrack is amazing.

The film is all animation and maybe claymation/stop motion effects galore. Way tripped out. It's kinda academic but not in a dull or boring way. I believe there is a plot to the film, but usually I'm so amazed by the visual images that I hardly pay attention enough to figure it out. Basically, it's got a sort of early 80's industrial feel with lots of imaginative effects and scenery, bouncing balls morphing around crazy backgrounds, turning into small people, entertaining bigger people with weird headgear...Incredible, but pretty hard to find. It's worth the look if your into this kinda stuff.