Quasi at the Quackadero

Sally Cruikshank has always been a huge influence on me ever since I was really little watching her work on Sesame Street. This is one of the most unique art pieces I've ever seen, I truly mean that! The fact that this took 2 years to animate and like 4 months to edit is astonishing! Sally animated it all with other people helping with inking it and voicing it. I love everything about this, except for the fact that it's to short. I want more of this world and it's characters and it breaks my heart to know that nobody in the 70s and 80 wanted to pick up "Quasi's cabaret" for a full movie. I would have jumped at the opportunity to produce that. (I'll one day try my best to get that to be).

Wonderful, psychedelic short film about a lazy duck (Quasi) whose frenemy Anita lures him to the Quackadero, a kind of crazy carnival with all sorts of weird carnies and barkers. I first saw it in Cambridge at a wonderful little place called Off the Wall that showed obscure short films.

This beautifully-crafted film was evocative and atmospheric, with a strong late 60s/early 70s vibe. And the music by Robert Armstrong and Allan Dodge adds a sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dreamy quality. One of the funnier "exhibits" was the Past Lives Pavilion, where people could go to relive things that supposedly happened to them in earlier lives. I remember one poor guy with his wife watching himself in some kinky hotel room or something and saying at the end, "That never happened to me!" And yes, youll recognize Cruikshank's style in some of the early Sesame Street cel animated shorts. Fantastic.

This is one of those things that defies description. Some sort of outrageous critter and his two pals go to the Quackadero, which is some sort of amusement park. There aren't the usual rides. Instead it's a trip inside the head of these people. One is a hall of mirrors where you can see yourself ten years from now or one hundred years from now. The latter is simply a decomposed skeleton. Another brings dreams to life. It's raucous and pretty senseless, but it vibrates with energy. It reminded me a bit of "Yellow Submarine." The animation is good and the characters really unique. There is a plot line that features the female of the group wanting to get rid of Quasi. But beyond that it's the carnival acts.

I must have seen this right around when it was made, as a short before a longer movie. I don't remember what that movie was, but I remember Quasi! My sister and I often mention it. It was the most surreal, mind-bending thing I'd seen as a kid (preteen?), and at the time was so weird it was even a little disturbing, thought nothing in it was really scary. It was just that different. I I've wanted to see it again ever since. I have a preschooler now who watches Sesame Street, and there are animations on that show that seem like they *must* have been made by the same guy, I I miss Quasi all over again. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of this. I can't even tell you what it was about now, but it made a huge impact on me! If you get a chance to see this, do, even if you don't usually like animation.

This must be what tripping balls feels like.

"Quasi at the Quackadero" paints a world of . . . well, it's like "Yellow Submarine" on acid. The colors are vibrant, the character designs are macabre, and it starts to sear into your brain after a while. I'd seen this before (middle of the night, in a theater setting) and I don't think my assessment has improved with being fully alert. And it just seems to go on and on. I'm not really sure it it's arty or some deranged '70s children's show, but I'm not getting the joke.

5/10