Dom

House (1958)

** (out of 4)

Another animated/still photograph film is a rather strange mixture and the first short from the directors that I haven't really enjoyed. I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what was going on in this thing but I believe it's about a person feeling trapped within their world. I'm guessing at this because of the early animated sequences, which features confined items structured within a house. The second half of the short features more stuff along the lines of the still photographs where we see some rather sad individuals. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed this more had I known for certain what was going on but for most of the running time I just found the narrative boring and I wasn't even that entertained by the visuals. I wouldn't call this film lazy but I didn't find it as interesting as others from the director.

Ou feel it or you don't....this one's a sound/motion collage from Poland..,. There is some interesting use of technique and resultant imagery here to sink your teeth into, so check it out on YouTube (under the name DOM) if abstraction gets you off,

A short film in which a woman living alone in an apartment has a series of bizarre hallucinations.

Of the director's handful of short films and animation, I think it would be safe to say that "Dom" (House) is the most well-known. Is it the best? One could probably argue that, as well. It does blend the real and the illusion very nicely, with an actual actress standing in for the dream creator. She remains uncredited, unfortunately.

Some of the style here is not much different from "Once Upon a Time", but it seems to have been fine-tuned a bit. There is plenty to love about this, and if you like the surreal or unusual, you probably like this short.

This is quite a curious compendium of features loosely connected by a woman's face used as a living interstitial between a series of sequences that illustrate a range of styles of animation, photography, even the odd contribution from an actual person and with a score that would not have sounded out of place in "The Forbidden Planet" from just a few years earlier. There is quite an interesting flash photography exhibition of kick boxing and my own favourite - a rather voracious wig that manages to quaff an entire pint of milk. It isn't a film in any traditional sense and it's creativity hits and misses as it goes on, but it is imaginative and worth a look if you're into experimental film-making.