Tma/Svetlo/Tma

My first entry in to Jan Svankmajer's world was with "Neco z Alenky", a surreal take on Alice in Wonderland that drew me in instantly. After watching "Neco z Alenky", I immediately started looking for more material by Jan Svankmajer, and I came across this little short animation which blew my mind out of the water.

During the 6 minutes of "Tma/Svetlo/Tma" (Darkness/Light/Darkness) we are invited to witness the different parts of the human male body entering a room separately and trying to figure out how to complete the human form. During this, the small room gets more and more crowded and difficult to move in. To me, the message this short gave me was that we should not aim higher than our capabilities, or we might end up with our goals crowding a small room, eventually turning off the light on it. But this is my interpretation, I've read several more interesting ones as well.

If you enjoy surreal / abstract cinema art, you owe it to yourself to watch this short as soon as possible, you will not be disappointed.

his is one of the few short movies where my jaw was dropping almost throughout the entire presentation. I was stunned at what I was seeing, it looked so bizarre. What a genius idea and presentation!

Basically, what we see is a body being put together, putting itself together. It is a claymation (clay animation) film which all takes place in a single room which looks like a big doll house room.

We have only a hand to start, but soon there is a knock on the door and another hand comes in. Then there is a knock on the small window and in flies an ear. Well, actually two ears but molded together looking like a bat or a butterfly. To condense the story, we slowly see an entire body formed. How it's done is utterly fascinating with some things, as I said, that just had my jaw dropping. Some body parts look impossibly big to get through the door,but they manage.

This is very, very clever material and one of the short films I will never forget. It was part of the "Jan Svankmejer: The Ossuary And Other Tales" DVD.

This 7 minutes short is a fascinating clay animation where a man constructs himself from clay (literally), being a God and his creature at the same time, putting the different parts of body together in a very small room. The more parts find their pace, the bigger the man becomes, the smaller and more suffocating the room gets. "Darkness-Light-Darkness" has been seen by many critics and viewers as a very strong allegory of suffocating life in Eastern Europe which is true, but I also see it as an allegory of a struggle every talented and deeply feeling artist goes through in the search for beauty and meaning regardless the political system or the country they live. From the darkness of non-existence to the light of knowledge to the unbearable darkness of being - that's the road Svankmajer takes us and as usual, his vision is not a cheerful or optimistic one.

If you are a fan of Jan Svankmajer, definitely check this out. Subtitled as "Scenes From The Surreal," this collection of Svankmajer's short films includes "Darkness, Light, Darkness," "Manly Games" and "Death of Stalinism," plus a documentary on Svankmajer and his work. Those who are familiar with his full-length features such as "Alice" or "Faust" will instantly recognize the trademark usage of clay animation and marionettes combined with live action. On "Darkness, Light, Darkness" we witness a clay man basically building himself up from a scratch. "Manly Games" is a soccer game like you've never seen it before. (When a player is down, he is really down, I'll tell you that.) And "Death of Stalinism" is Svankmajer's unique rumination on the fall of communism and the Velvet revolution in Czech republic.

So, if you are a fan of Svankmajer, this, of course, is mandatory. If you are not, check this out and you just might become one.

"Darkness, Light, Darkness" is a creepy stop-motion film. However, it's not nearly as creepy as many of Jan Svankmajer's other films...that's for sure!

The film begins with a pair of clay hands in a room. The hands seem to have a mind of their own. Soon, other body parts begin to come into this very crowded room--first some eyes, then ears, a head and so on until eventually the entire body is assembled by the hands and crowds the room.

While this doesn't sound like a lot of plot, the film IS highly entertaining. In fact, I cannot recall another stop-motion film I enjoyed more. I think it's because of the amazing quality of the film combined with a sick and bizarre sense of humor that really kept my interest. Not to be missed!!