Jan Svankmajer

I've been a fan of Mr. Svankmajer's surreal animation ever since I first saw a selection of his films in Annecy about 25 years ago. I particularly liked “Dimensions in Dialogue”, where all these everyday objects come in confrontation with each other and battle for domination.

Well, I was I invited to the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY for the US premiere of “Surviving Life”, his newest feature. I don't know if he's getting tired in his old age or if he's running out of money, but the usual beautiful surreal images were replaced by cheap Photoshop paper cut-outs on black and white city photos that gave it a Terry Gilliam Monty Python look, but without the humor.

The story was actually pretty interesting, about a guy who falls in love with a beauty he discovers in his dreams, and his wife goes into his dream to get back at the temptress. Unfortunately, it was slowed down by weird excursions to his psychiatrist session – very boring!

The film was completed in 2010 and never released in the US (it was financed by a Japanese corportation) But if you want to see some animation that's pretty unique, or if you're a diehard Svankmajer fan, check out “Surviving Life”.

I give it a C+.