Little Otik Reviews

Quite possibly the weirdest film I have ever seen, but arguably one of the best. The image of Otik eating the social worker - priceless!

Not for the little ones?

Cross Brain Dead with Eraserhead and you may get some idea of what to expect from this thoroughly odd, thoroughly endearing story of an infertile couple's way of dealing with childlessness.

A Czech apartment block is the unlikely setting for this fable, in which Little Otik - a vaguely infant-shaped tree stump, of all things - develops an appetite of positively life-threatening proportions. Hence the reason why the postman, the cat and a social worker have mysteriously disappeared...

Excellent performances - especially from the little community's precocious teenage girl - and operatic gore make this a unique modern retelling of the gruesome Czech fairy tale, Otesanek.

:)

This is a very excentric film. I recommend it to anyone who is tired of hollywood and wants something a bit different.

The photography and the attention to little details was to me the most enjoyable.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Impressive Nonsense.

If more films like this were made, and we all watched them regularly, we would all probably be raving mad ! As mad as the Czech way of life which it is supposedly satirising.

It is tasteless, grotesque, disgusting, revolting and this is the point !

It is a psychotic nightmare, a very grim fairy tale and a jet-black comedy all rolled into one, where a dead tree stump is treated like a baby and comes alive as a flesh-eating monster. It is horrifically comical and comically horrific.

The plot sounds like complete nonsense, but it is brilliantly written and expertly directed; the consistently first-class acting makes the whole thing strangely disturbing and fascinating.

The camera work is exceptional; it is a shame that the bottom of the screen is so often overlaid by the subtitles, which you have to read, therefore missing some of the superb cinematography, which demands not to be missed. It should be very skillfully dubbed so as to avoid this distraction.

The film's concentration upon tiny details is a major strength; there are numerous, very unusual close-ups, camera angles and strange camera movements, which transport the story into the theatre of the absurd.

It appeals to the child in all of us; the last time that I have seen anything of this kind was, in fact, a child's TV program called 'The Singing Ringing Tree'. However, this is not a film which anyone in their right mind would allow a child to watch. The appearance of the pre-teenage girl in the film is in itself one its most disturbing features, with scenes which imply a paedophiliac interest of a very old man, which is particularly tasteless, but, somehow, in the very wierd logic of the film, it seems to be perfectly well in place.

The only moral seems to be 'release your imagination'; not a bad moral of a constantly engaging and interesting dollop of film-making, with lots of slices of hokum thrown in.

wierd

very unusual watchable film ,ending drags on .

very, very weird...

Having seen Faust (by the same director), and loved it, i was really looking forward to seeing this. However, it's not quite in the same out-there category of the wierd and wonderful as faust, which in a way makes it even more odd. The sight of the tree root being cuddled and dressed like a real baby is one of the most disturbing things i've ever seen, and when it comes to life (this is given away on the film description so i'm not spoiling it here), well, i must admit i couldn't really watch much of it as i found the whole concept of a tree root in clothes with a dummy in it's mouth quite unsettling, i certainly won't become a lumberjack now. Anyway, this is a really good, original film by a great director, despite my own personal unease at living tree baby things, so if you like his other work or european cinema in general, check it out.

Little Otik

A great, weird story about a little girl who knows a fairy tale which she sees being played out in the flat upstairs! Quite gruesome in parts - too scary for the children - and very long...Funny though. A must-see for Swankmajer fans; there's not as much of his wonderful animation as there was in his earlier films, but what there is is fascinating.

Wonderfully surreal, woefully overlong

Unmistakably the hand of the great Czech animator here in the macabre tone, the surreal and disturbing attention given to food, the photography and editing. As before with ‘Alice’ and ‘Faust’ he takes a traditional tale and filters it through a contemporary vision – here the tale of the Otesánek is played out in a crumbling Czech tenancy. Unfortunately, the film’s uniqueness is undercut by its protracted running length (which could be easily cut by about half an hour) and the woefully sparse appearance of the animation which makes his films so compelling. Shame, as for the most part it is darkly surreal but also very funny.

clever funny fairytale

"Little Otik" is set in a Czech apartment block and tells the twisted story of an infertile young couple desperate to have their own baby. The girl next door is an only child and also obsessed about pregnancy; she is also the first person to guess the real identity of "Little Otik" the secretive couple's new addition! The film uses a brilliant mixture of real life characters/situations and sparingly used fantastic animations. Like all good fairytales the storyline is simple, believable, full of light and dark humour, often gory, and really addictive.

Inspired genius throughout

I was recommended this by my Mum, who thought i would like it. From the opening credits, you are assaulted with images of babies, and this sets the viewer up for an insight into the driving force behind the main couple- the NEED to conceive a child. You really feel for the husband, who tries to make life more bearable for his wife, but instead gets embroiled in a rollercoaster of murder and lies. From a tree stump. The husband's feeling of being trapped is palpable, as is the whole essence of frustration and duality that he feels- on one hand, he HAS to stop everything, but on the other, he loves deeply Otik. Uncomfortable viewing all round, and if this isn't for you, then My Super Ex-Girlfriend may challenge you enough- i mean, she does throw a shark at him...