Little Otik
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 2.0
Oddball fairy tale by Svankmajer (with only a small amount of stop motion animation, the director's real forte) about an infertile couple who 'adopt' a tree stump shaped like a child that 'becomes' real and has a tremendous appetite. Unlike the best fables and tweaked children's tales, this one's stretched way the hell out and frequently repetitive - the point, about not taking responsibilities for one's own creations and about how lies can come back and get you is made within the first half-hour. Without all the visual bells and whistles I'm accustomed in Svankmajer's films, his style started annoying me - I could have very well done without the purposely nauseating close-ups of people's mouths crammed with food and making noises.
