Little Otik (a.k.a. Otesánek) (2000) (2000)

March 18, 2023 7:49 PM

Jan Švankmajer's mostly live action retelling of Czech fairy tale,Otesánek. IMDB synopsis: A childless couple passes off an anthropomorphous tree stump as their baby, but things get out of hand when the thing comes to life and demands to be fed.

Perhaps best described as a surreal fantasy horror movie, the movie also prominently features an inquisitive young girl neighbor of the childless couple, her harried parents, and a few other residents of the somewhat dilapidated apartment building where they all reside.

Sadly, there are currently few options to stream this movie. Just Watch

posted by 2N2222 (3 comments total)

This is a delightfully strange and richly amusing movie. The synopsis really is a bare bones description. The main character really is the precocious neighbor girl, Alzbetka, who notices the strange behavior of her neighbors, childless couple, Bozena and Karel. Describing them as a childless couple really sells them short. They're consumed by their inability to conceive, to the point of absurd comedy.

The movie is filled with references to fertility, senses, and carnality. Pregnant women, babies in prams, extreme closeups of eating all kinds of sumptuous foods permeate most scenes. Baby Otik does nothing but eat anything it possibly can. Young Alzbetka is extremely curious about sex and reproduction. And seemingly the most aware person in the neighborhood. She's the only one who notices Bozena and Karel's weird pregnancy, she's the only one who notices the elderly creeper upstairs, or the strange disappearances. The closeups of Alzbetka eating play like expressions of her sensuality before she's really able to make such expressions in a sexual way. Though she's on the cusp of that stage, secretly devouring the knowledge of a sex instruction book with the same gusto as her appetite. Her parents are oblivious and preoccupied with their own duties. And the movie is peppered with bits of stop motion and cell animation well integrated into the story.

This movie kind of stands on its own in theme, genre and style. There aren't many others like it, outside other surreal movies of Jan Švankmajer. The closest I can think of is the much more recent Lamb, which shares a similar theme about all-wrong child bearing.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:10 PM on March 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

My second favourite Svankmajer, after 'Conspirators of Pleasure'.

Currently streaming on Eastern European Movies (which is a treasure-house of rare cinema).
posted by remembrancer at 6:53 AM on March 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

is Jan Švankmajer responsible for a film where someone inhales a bunch of dough balls or something?

trying to recall the plot of the film is like grasping at a disappearing dream
posted by elkevelvet at 3:15 PM on March 20, 2023