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Faust
DVD/APPROX. 97 MINS/1994/CZECH PG
DVD/APPROX. 97 MINS/1994/CZECH PG
9
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Jan Svankmajer is a Czech artist best known for his feature films and also short films which mainly consist of stop-motion and surreal animation. He
has pretty much inspired everyone from the band Tool to Tim Burton to fellow stop-motion animators the Brothers Quay.
Faust consists-much like Svankmajer’s previous film Alice- of a mixture of live action footage, stop motion, claymation and puppetry. The film is a
take on the legend of Faust but is in no way an accurate telling as Svankmajer offers his own unique imagery and blending of the play by Goethe,
the novel by Christian Dietrich Grabbe and the play “The Tragical History of Dr Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe.
The basic plot of the film is that a man receives a map from a stranger on the subway and follows it to a theatre sells his soul to Lucifer thus
making himself Lucifer’s servant until death. I can’t imagine children really getting into Svankmajer’s films that much, Alice in Wonderland is a
child’s tale, yet Svankmajer’s take on it with all the cuteness of the puppets and animals is pretty much horrifying. He has an innate vision that
rivals the strangeness of David Lynch. The time and effort that goes into his movies must be painstakingly long, and worth every second. If you
have never seen a piece of surreal cinema or stop-motion then this is the perfect place to start, it’s a little more cerebral that Alice and demands
more from the viewer, of course if you are already familiar with the legend of Faust then the film will be more enjoyable I would imagine.
Siren Visual have released this as a region 4 disc and sadly there are no special features at all, it would have really been interesting to see some
sort of featurette or even a documentary on the people who have been inspired by Svankmajer. Nonetheless it is still worth picking up if you are a
fan of surrealism, stop-motion or are looking for something completely new to watch. One thing I can say is that no matter what Svankmajer film,
be it his shorts, Alice or Faust you are bound to see some magical art that is horrific, beautiful, funny, cute and mystifying and it will entertain you
as well.
has pretty much inspired everyone from the band Tool to Tim Burton to fellow stop-motion animators the Brothers Quay.
Faust consists-much like Svankmajer’s previous film Alice- of a mixture of live action footage, stop motion, claymation and puppetry. The film is a
take on the legend of Faust but is in no way an accurate telling as Svankmajer offers his own unique imagery and blending of the play by Goethe,
the novel by Christian Dietrich Grabbe and the play “The Tragical History of Dr Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe.
The basic plot of the film is that a man receives a map from a stranger on the subway and follows it to a theatre sells his soul to Lucifer thus
making himself Lucifer’s servant until death. I can’t imagine children really getting into Svankmajer’s films that much, Alice in Wonderland is a
child’s tale, yet Svankmajer’s take on it with all the cuteness of the puppets and animals is pretty much horrifying. He has an innate vision that
rivals the strangeness of David Lynch. The time and effort that goes into his movies must be painstakingly long, and worth every second. If you
have never seen a piece of surreal cinema or stop-motion then this is the perfect place to start, it’s a little more cerebral that Alice and demands
more from the viewer, of course if you are already familiar with the legend of Faust then the film will be more enjoyable I would imagine.
Siren Visual have released this as a region 4 disc and sadly there are no special features at all, it would have really been interesting to see some
sort of featurette or even a documentary on the people who have been inspired by Svankmajer. Nonetheless it is still worth picking up if you are a
fan of surrealism, stop-motion or are looking for something completely new to watch. One thing I can say is that no matter what Svankmajer film,
be it his shorts, Alice or Faust you are bound to see some magical art that is horrific, beautiful, funny, cute and mystifying and it will entertain you
as well.
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