Spielzeugland

"Toyland" is a film that works so brilliantly that it managed to be powerful, thought-provoking and even gut-wrenching than most Hollywood films that are 8 to 10 times longer. With sparse dialogue, director Jochen Alexander Freydank keeps us hooked throughout this superb short film.

Set during the Holocaust, a German woman frantically searches for her son, who might have decided to accompany his Jewish neighbors to a Nazi concentration camp because the Jewish family's young son and her son are best friends.

The film is elegantly shot and wonderfully acted. There is more poignancy and true emotion in this film than I have seen in most Hollywood films in recent times.

Director Freydank moves his story along, with us always wondering not only what comes next but how this is going to end. And then comes the denouement: A truly remarkable twist that says much about the human spirit. It is a moment that will break your heart while simultaneously make you smile.

If you have the chance to see this, and the other Oscar-nominated live action shorts, do yourself a favor and watch them. Believe me, it will be time much better spent than, say, on "New In Town" or most any other mainstream Hollywood film.

the films about Shoah are many. but "Toyland" is different. for its intensity. for its switch. for the exploration of an explanation and a fundamental decision. and, sure, for something who remains out of words. because it is a film about hope. and about miracle in a form who seems so easy to define than remains deep way impressive. a mother, her son, theirs neighbors.and a piano. nothing more but enough for a so intense film, profound provocative, than it becomes a serious challenge for the viewer. to become himself. in better version.

Toyland is a German short film, directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank. The film relates with the Holocaust. It depicts the fates of non-Jewish family and Jewish family.

There are some good points in the film. First of all, I was very attracted by the first scene. The film begins with the images of chain like a four-handed performance on the piano and a spiral staircase. These images not only give the audience a feeling of immersion, but also cause them uneasiness.

Second, the audience is not the only one to use their imagination. The characters in the film are less able to predict their own destiny, compared to other movies. Children constantly imagine the truth of Toyland. On the other hand, adults work hard to help their children. Therefore, some people find it hard to watch the film.

To conclude, it is worth seeing. Also, it is a good movie to know the gruesomeness of the Holocaust.

Today I went with three friends to a special showing of all the films nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Live Action Short. Oddly, the four of us were in pretty much agreement about the films. Our pick for best of the nominees was PIG ("Grisen"), though ON THE LINE ("Auf der Strecke") was a very good film and is nearly as deserving of the award. We predicted that TOYLAND ("Spielzeugland"), however, will win the award because it's the sort of the film the Academy tends to like AND because PIG might ruffle some feathers because it is not "politically correct". I'll update this review after the awards are given.

TOYLAND is a film set during the Nazi era. A boy asks his mother about why all his neighbors (all Jews) are disappearing. She explains that everything is okay and that they have gone to "Toyland". Unfortunately, it sounds like such a nice place that the kid hopes to go there, too, and the film begins with him sneaking off with a shipment of Jews to the concentration camps because he wants to visit this magical place.

Much of the film consists of the mother trying to find the boy and eventually the SS officers help her to try to locate the boy. This all ends in a marvelous twist that I won't reveal here, but this twist takes the film from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

A lovely film that will probably win--in part, because the film is about an important subject that the Academy seems to like, the Holocaust (and highly reminiscent of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL), and in part because it is so exceptionally well-crafted from start to finish. My only reservation is that the print was awfully dark--practically everything looked black at times. Perhaps it was just a bad print.

UPDATE: It's official, TOYLAND is the winner. This didn't surprise me at all and it was well deserving of the award, though I was still pulling for PIG to take the honors.

The type of this short film is drama and war. The film was made in 2007.

Heinrich, who is a young boy, plays the piano with his neighbor David.

However, David is a Jewish boy, and one day his family is taken to a camp. Because Heinrich's mother tells him that David's family will go to a toy land, Heinrich wants to go there with them. On the day when David' s family is taken to the camp, Heinrich tries to follow them, getting out his home without his mother realizing it. This is why she is so surprised to see no one in Heinrich's bed, and she starts to look for her son. While looking for him, there are moving dramas.

I really like this film. At first, actually I had difficulty understanding the storyline, but after watching the movie twice I could figure it out. The most impressive point of this film is that Heinrich's mother is incredibly brave and smart. In order to find her son, she looks around a variety of places. Even after she realizes that her son is safe, she never gives up to do something meaningful. As I mentioned above, this film is a little bit hard to understand, but it is definitely worth watching.