We Love Movies – The – you’ll wish you were really high before you watch – Video recommendation of the Week:
I knew that when I started to classify movies (comedy, drama, horror, western, etc.), I was eventually going to run into trouble. Some films just don’t fit into a single category. So …… you start to combine genres: part drama + part comedy = dramady; part horror + part comedy = black comedy; etc. Sometimes you get longer combinations. Take the Stephen Chow movie, Kung Fu Hustle – described as a “martial arts -30’s -gangster -action -comedy”. Now, would that be a “kung-fu gangedy”? or maybe a “com-martial actionster”? Or ……..shall we come up with a whole new word, not based on any other description, like “schma”? “Schma” is good, and I don’t think it’s being used for anything else – and even if it is, so what? “Kung-Fu Hustle? What kind of movie is that?” “Why, it’s a delightful schma.”
However, ….. I can’t even think up an entirely new word to describe LITTLE OTIK……..
Where shall I start? Well, working from memory, I debated whether this was a family movie with a lot of dark humor, or ……..if it was a deeply and profoundly disturbing mind f***. After seeing it again recently, I’m leaning towards the latter choice. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very very funny – just in the funny “Little Shop of Horrors” sort of way. You want to laugh – but, at the same time, you want to hide under the blankets …….just in case. You know what, I’m not getting this right – let me start over.
LITTLE OTIK is an allegory for fertility and and of the power of a mother’s love. Based on a Czech folk fairy tale, it tells the story of a young couple who are unhappy because they are unable to have children. One day, while digging in the garden, the husband unearths a large root, shaped vaguely like a infant. To ease his wife’s distress, he smoothes and varnishes the root and gives it to her. With a mother’s eyes, she sees not a log, but the baby boy she’s always wanted and takes him (it) in. Through the sheer force of a mother’s love, the root comes alive. She loves and cares for him, and works ceaselessly to satisfy its great hunger. The couple work hard to keep him from danger and to keep him out of trouble as he grows up – but boys will be boys, and soon ……well, you know how it goes – the next thing you know, the townspeople are at the gate with torches and pitchforks and you have to do the experiment where you link brains in order to make him into less of a monster and ……. You know, I’m still not getting this right. Let me start again.
A man carves a little wooden boy from a garden root and presents it to his wife. The couple love Little Otik and Little Otik loves them. What he wants, most of all though, is to be a real boy. Now although he tries to be good, he is led astray and gets into oh so much trouble! Will Little Otik, with a song in his heart and his conscience by his side, set things right and get back to his family and become a real boy? I guess you’ll have to watch to find out.
There………………that’s better.
Of course, I’m sure you’re going to follow on the IMDB site and find out what this movie is really about (I’m just exhibiting a psychological block about it). Now I can’t say for sure, but I betting that many of you will not like this film. You will be disturbed by it, or really disturbed by it, or really really super disturbed by it, or afraid to be alone, or of gardens, but if you give it a chance, you will have a truly “unique” cinematic experience. For my part, here is a short list of truly disturbing images that I won’t soon forget.
- fertility images: In the beginning of the film, the husband sees (imagines) images representing fertility – these are extreme like you wouldn’t believe. Although these are not violent or gross, most people I’ve talk to about this film found that these images disturbed them long after the end of the movie.
- Little Otik, breast-feeding.
- Little Otik feeding, period.
- The mother has a scary crazed look in her eye – as if she’s thinking, “Oh dear! A log is suckling my nipple. Please don’t make any sudden moves.”
- Little Otik crying. Don’t you just hate seeing babies cry? Seeing a baby cry quite often will make you feel uneasy because you know the baby is uncomfortable or needs something, and you just want to comfort it. However, seeing a log cry is just f***ed up!
- The neighbors cooking. I almost think this is the most disturbing of all. In the film Better Off Dead, there is a running gag that John Cusak’s mother’s cooking was so bad, that, not only was it unrecognizable as food, but would often move as though it had a life of it’s own. The neighbors in LITTLE OTIK apparently studied the same cuisine. You know what I think? I don’t think its really a gag. I think it actually IS part of CZECH folklore and actually DOES exist. So what do you learn from this? When traveling to Eastern Europe – pack a lunch.
- The dirty old man. Such a vivid stereotype, you don’t often see in movies anymore. It was both refreshing – and disturbing. Maybe slightly more disturbing than refreshing – maybe a 70%/30% mix, but then – that’s just me.
- I’m a parent and I know first-hand that children can drive you crazy. They are demanding and they sometimes misbehave, but you love them anyway, you have to, though it can be very stressful at times. …………I’m going to sleep with one eye open from now on.
- Not-so-Little Otik feeding. Little Otik spends the later part of the film, not so little. He has grown into a large and majestic oak …..or possibly maple. No …….no! He definitely looks oak-ish.
- That I watched it a second time – makes me wonder about myself.
If I’m giving you the impression that this is a grizzly horror film, I’m sorry. That’s incorrect. Exactly the opposite is true. It’s a delightful family movie with some dark humor. Really.
Warning: Not for very young children. It’s unrated. There isn’t any sex or nudity or profanity, but it is strange and weird, and can be scary, so be warned!
LITTLE OTIK – a delightful ’schma’.
Enjoy.
Tomatometer rating: 83%
