(Note: This is my first review here
so sorry for any bad english or typos.)
Hmyz, or Insects if you prefer to call that, is an "interesting" case.
To begin with, i absolutely love Svankmajer movies. Every single detail about them: The cinematography, the sound, the scenery, OH MY GOD, the animation!
But let's forget about all that and focus directly on Hmyz. When i heard that Svankmajer was making a last film, i was pretty excited about the final result. Of course, i didn't donate to the Indiegogo page because i'm a ten year old so i waited.
And when it came out, i torrented it and watched at home.
It was a "weird" experience, even for Svankmajer standards. First off, i liked the idea to use scenes from the creative process behind the film as intercuts.
It was a nice little touch and i discovered things i didn't even knew about. For example, the tongue animation in scenes from Alice and Otesanek, i didn't knew how they did the spittle in the tongue.
But thanks to this film i discovered that and many other things.
Now, the animation, which were great as usual. But now, i want to talk about the story of the film. Let me talk from the start.
At the first half of the film, i could understand the main story and the character's motivations. The actors getting really deep into the characters they're playing is an interesting concept that i wished could have been explored better.
But it's the second half of the film that really goes downhill.
It all starts with Ms Cricket rehearsing for a scene of the play. The scene is her getting stabbed by the Sabre Wasp but the actor who plays the Wasp isn't passionate about how he stabs her. So the director proceeds to show him how to "act better".
This "acting lesson" quickly turns into an actual murder when the director stabs Ms Cricket in the chest while Larva and Sabre Wasp watch the incident unfold.
The incident is quickly forgotten when in the next scene Ms Cricket is okay and well.
So what happened?! Was it an hallucination like the others we've seen? Because both the Larva and the Sabre Wasp were watching as if it was actually real.
I'm still quite confused as to what happened in this scene!
After this scene, Ms Cricket tells the Director that the baby is coming.
What baby? We were never given any information before about her being pregnant, so this subplot is just thrown in there randomly.
There's also the scene where the Parasite eats the actress that plays the Larva. At first, i actually thought that this was another hallucination but it was not! He actually ate her inside the stage!
But, atleast in this one we are given signs before in the movie that hints us that he literally wants to eat her. Like he grabbing her by the arm, looking with a menacing look at her and many others.
Svankmajer actually wrote the film on an afternoon right out of his head. And i understand that that's why the movie's story is so weird and absurd, but it is still nonsensical and kind of confusing.
At least i liked the ending where he says "I Warned You" as if what he said at the beginning about the film not making any sense whatsoever was a warning.
Overall, i enjoyed this movie but that doesn't mean it's a great movie. I still think the story should've been explored much better and make more sense than what we've got.
Hmyz, or Insects if you prefer to call that, is an "interesting" case.
To begin with, i absolutely love Svankmajer movies. Every single detail about them: The cinematography, the sound, the scenery, OH MY GOD, the animation!
But let's forget about all that and focus directly on Hmyz. When i heard that Svankmajer was making a last film, i was pretty excited about the final result. Of course, i didn't donate to the Indiegogo page because i'm a ten year old so i waited.
And when it came out, i torrented it and watched at home.
It was a "weird" experience, even for Svankmajer standards. First off, i liked the idea to use scenes from the creative process behind the film as intercuts.
It was a nice little touch and i discovered things i didn't even knew about. For example, the tongue animation in scenes from Alice and Otesanek, i didn't knew how they did the spittle in the tongue.
But thanks to this film i discovered that and many other things.
Now, the animation, which were great as usual. But now, i want to talk about the story of the film. Let me talk from the start.
At the first half of the film, i could understand the main story and the character's motivations. The actors getting really deep into the characters they're playing is an interesting concept that i wished could have been explored better.
But it's the second half of the film that really goes downhill.
It all starts with Ms Cricket rehearsing for a scene of the play. The scene is her getting stabbed by the Sabre Wasp but the actor who plays the Wasp isn't passionate about how he stabs her. So the director proceeds to show him how to "act better".
This "acting lesson" quickly turns into an actual murder when the director stabs Ms Cricket in the chest while Larva and Sabre Wasp watch the incident unfold.
The incident is quickly forgotten when in the next scene Ms Cricket is okay and well.
So what happened?! Was it an hallucination like the others we've seen? Because both the Larva and the Sabre Wasp were watching as if it was actually real.
I'm still quite confused as to what happened in this scene!
After this scene, Ms Cricket tells the Director that the baby is coming.
What baby? We were never given any information before about her being pregnant, so this subplot is just thrown in there randomly.
There's also the scene where the Parasite eats the actress that plays the Larva. At first, i actually thought that this was another hallucination but it was not! He actually ate her inside the stage!
But, atleast in this one we are given signs before in the movie that hints us that he literally wants to eat her. Like he grabbing her by the arm, looking with a menacing look at her and many others.
Svankmajer actually wrote the film on an afternoon right out of his head. And i understand that that's why the movie's story is so weird and absurd, but it is still nonsensical and kind of confusing.
At least i liked the ending where he says "I Warned You" as if what he said at the beginning about the film not making any sense whatsoever was a warning.
Overall, i enjoyed this movie but that doesn't mean it's a great movie. I still think the story should've been explored much better and make more sense than what we've got.