Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Best of Jiří Trnka

Jiří Trnkan parhaita / Det bästa av Jiří Trnka. Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů Praha / Studio Kresleného a Loutkového Filmu / Krátký film Praha / Bratři v triku. There is no dialogue in these films; only in Pérák a SS there is a little introductory text. Prints from Národní filmový archiv (Prague). Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Jiří Trnka), 18 Oct 2012.

Four gems from the Czech master of animation.

Archanděl Gabriel a paní Husa [Arkkienkeli Gabriel ja kauppiaan rouva / Archangel Gabriel and the Merchant's Wife]. CZ © 1964 Krátký film Praha. P: Jiří Vaněk. D+SC: Jiří Trnka – based on Decamerone (1353) by Boccaccio. Puppet AN: Stanislav Látal, Vlasta Pospíšilová, Bohuslav Šrámek. DP: Jiří Šafář. Cinematographer's assistant: Jindřich Hrdina. ED: Hana Walachová. M: Jan Novák. 803 m / 29 min. Source: Boccaccio: Decamerone: Fourth Day, Second Story. The monk Alberto visits the bedchamber of the merchant's wife Lisetta in the guise of Archangel Gabriel, complete with feathers. - AA: a witty, juicy approach to the Boccaccio tale, funnily erotic, with humoristic visions such as the Arcimboldo woman.

Pérák a SS [Vieterimies ja SS / The Springman and SS]. CZ 1946. PC: Bratři v triku. P: Jaroslav Jílovec. D+SC: Jiří Trnka – from an idea by Ota Šafránek. Design: Jiří Trnka. Cartoon AN: Čeněk Duba, Josef Kábrt, Jiří Krejči, Stanislav Látal, J. Mann, Jan Müller, Bohuslav Šrámek, Karel Štrébl. M: Jan Rychlík. Orchestra: FISYO, conductor: M. Uzelac. B&w. 285 m / 14 min. The chimney sweep Pérák gets springs under his feet and becomes an overwhelming opponent to collaborators, stool pigeons, and the SS. Although the Nazis mobilize a full regiment against him he manages to save victims of the SS. - AA: A comic superhero, a bit like Spiderman, receives strong springs from the sofa on which the young lovers are supposed to kiss. Funny satire on Nazi oppression (even a songbird is chained, as is an old man whose steps on slippery banana peels resemble a Cossack dance).

Vášen [Intohimo / A Passion]. CZ 1961. PC: Ústřední Půjčovna Filmů Praha / Studio Kresleného a Loutkového Filmu. P: Jaroslav Možíš. D+SC+idea+design: Jiří Trnka. AN: Bohuslav Šrámek, Jan Adam, Zdenĕk Šob, Jan Karpaš. DP: Jiří Šafář. ED: Hana Walachová. 564 m / 20 min. Faster, faster: a little boy boosts his toy car with a clockwork. A kick scooter, a bicycle, a motorcycle, a wheelchair... everything needs to be faster. Even when his soul flies to heaven it tries to surpass a sputnik. - AA: a contribution to Paul Virilio's dromology. Funny details such as receiving horse power from the knight pieces of chess players.

Ruka [Käsi / The Hand]. CZ © 1965 Krátký film Praha. D+SC+design: Jiří Trnka. AN: Bohuslav Šrámek (the potter), Jan Adam (the hand), Ladislav Fialka (the dancing hand). DP: Jiří Šafář. ED: Hana Walachová. 511 m / 19 min. The potter makes flowerpots and cultivates a plant in one of them. A magnificent hand emerges into his study and tries to enforce him to create a monument to it. - AA: the funny details include the hand montage (a hand on tv, the scales of justice, the Statue of Liberty, the hand on the trigger, the X-ray hand, a handshake, hand silhouette figures).

The prints have a juicy sense of colour, and in the black-and-white Pérák a SS there is a good definition of light.

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