DanSTC Reviews

Punch and Judy (1966)

A delightfully subversive satire of greed and war.

[31 October 2004]

Punch & Judy is Svankmajer's third film effort, and a triumph of surrealist satire. Whereas his two previous films had been too strange for their own good, this third film stands as a strong testament to Svakmajer's blossoming ability as a filmmaker.

The opening sequence is an important element to the film, showing a clockwork band of creepy-looking toy monkeys who seem to set the tone for the goofy animalistic black comedy that is about to unfold. Contrasted by this clockwork band of misfits are metallic clockwork contraptions of working-class families (covered with rust and paint chips) in a psychotic drone of mechanical repetition. After this, a "swinging ship" carousal sways back and forth to swaying images of decadent childish cherubs. Finally, a series of frightening carousal horses drone by the camera and after a collision-edited sequence of wooden horses, we are presented with a puppet stage.

From there, the story unfolds; the film features two puppets, Punch and Jody (mistitled as "Judy" - Jody has always been a male counterpart to Punch in his puppet plays, even though Punch does has a wife named Judy) who become involved in an escalating war with large mallets over a botched attempt to barter over a fine guinea pig. The sequences that follow feature bizarre imagery and seemingly nonsequitor clips and closeups (some animated) of archival newsprint.

During the entire conflict in which either side attempts to see the other dead and buried (and fails) while the guinea pig remains oblivious and indifferent towards either side. Thus the animal represents the arbitrary notion of property with regards to man's environment.

Eventually Punch & Jody slay one another after wreaking miserable havoc on the landscape of the stage around them (even passing over the mechanical contraptions and carousel horses featured in the opening sequence) and collapsing together into the coffin they had intended to bury each other in.

The puppeteer's hands slide out of the puppets, the coffin lid closes, and the unaffected guinea pig crawls through the open mouth of one of the wall paintaing.

The film itself is, among other things, a subervise satire of humanity - particularly our attitudes with regards to conflict. This film was made during the cold war, and made comedy of the capitalist versus communist ideals. (This subtle is further reinforced by the fact that Punch is dressed in red and demands a fairer share of money than Jody offers, while Jody lives in a house lined with newspapers and attempts to set the price for the guinea pig himself.) The film in a way, mocks the mechanized hypocrisy of communism, and the greedy inclinations of capitalism. Even so, drawing up a cold war allegory would be a disservice to the film, which symbollically mocks the human condition, and our never-ending always-escalating desire for conflict which results in our own mutual self-destruction. Meanwhile, nature being indifferent to our struggles, goes on without us.

This film is without a doubt, a masterpiece of surrealist and czechoslovakian cinema - if you enjoy it, I would recommend any of Svankmajer's other works, particularly his full-length films "Conspirators of Pleasure" "Alice" "Faust" and "Little Otik." His successive work (including his countless other short films, many of which are genius, particularly "Jabberwocky" "Ossuary" "Food" "Darkness-Light-Darkness" and "Dimensions of Dialogue") has only built upon the foundation created by this classic gem of a short film.

Jagged Edge (1985)

Formulaic courtroom drama/murder mystery fare with good acting/directing, but sloppy writing. Annoying "twist" at the end, too. And horrible child actors.

[12 November 2003]

A pretty formulaic courtroom drama/murder mystery with some decent acting and good photography. The writing is unfortunately where the film sags. None of the characters have nearly enough depth, though they are (just barely) saved particularly well by the grace of the actors who portray them.

The twist at the end was also far too predictable, but in one of those daytime soap opera sort of ways where you think to yourself "could that be what's going to happen? No, no...the writer wouldn't be that asinine." And then when it turns out the writer IS that asinine, you roll your eyes and change the channel. The movie basically throws everything in your face that you've been subjected to over the course of the film, but in such a heavy-handed "NO DUH" sort of way, that you can't help but wonder if the writer conceived the script while suffering a concussion.

I personally think the writing would've been cleverer if the character who gets it at the end wasn't who Glenn's character pretty much thought it was going to be by that point. It would've made for a far better ending, and a far more plausible one at that.

Oh yeah, and there's some pretty irritating child actors in this film.

Eraserhead (1977)

A dark dream of disturbing things...

[10/10 · 4 November 2002]

First of all, let me say that Eraserhead is not a film for everyone. Many people will find themselves confused by the strange atmosphere, surreal imagery, and signature David Lynch sense of purposefully awkward pacing.

That out of the way, I would have to say that this is possibly one of my most personal favorite films. It is dark, tense, atmospheric, and filled with sounds and images that will send chills up your spine. It is a film that takes more than one viewing to truly begin to comprehend, but is quite a ride nontheless. There are moments in this movie that will literally scare you, so much so that one could almost call this eerie surreal art-film a deconstructed domestic horror movie. This film, along with the original black and white Night of the Living dead, are two of the only films in existance that still scare me to this day. (Side note: Also, I reccomend that you see Luis Bunuel's movie "Un Chien Andalou" to see where strange art-films like this originated from.)

Anyway, the film's plot while initially incomprehensible to most, can be broken down into the tragic tale of a man named Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) stuck in a dark decaying city overrun by industry. During the film, he is forced to deal with the prospect of taking care of an illegitimate premature child birthed by his girlfriend, Mary X. (Charlotte Stewart) However, he is consumed by his guilt, and begins to comprehend suicide as a way out. But the story is told through such a swirling mixture of dreamlike imagery that this is not always readily apparent.

However, in order to better understand and appreciate the film, one must figure out what each of the images mean. Here's a short cliff notes guidline to some of the more common recurring images in the movie:

***THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Worm = sin. These creatures appear all throughout the movie. Henry even tries to hide his "little" sin from Mary at one point, only to have a nightmare where Mary is consumed by worms. Henry's room is also filled with piles dirt and dead plants as one might notice, which makes his room a breeding ground for worms.

The Baby = The product of sin. You might have noticed that the baby looks an awful lot like a worm. Futhermore, the baby is a part of Henry, and later during the dream sequence, we discover that Henry IS the baby. When Henry kills the baby, he kills himself.

Eraser = Memories. Henry feels that his memories, or his brain with his bad memories, is like an eraser that needs to be rubbed out. In his dream sequence, he sees himself losing his head, and having his brains turned into eraser bits to be rubbed out and blown into dust on the wind.

The lady in the radiator = Death. Death looks grotesque, yet strangely appealing to poor Henry. The radiator gives off warmth and seems to become a stage where death performs for Henry, promising to stamp out his sins (worms) and telling him that "in heaven, everything is fine." At the end of the movie, Henry embraces the lady in the radiator before blackness falls.

The man in the planet = God. In addition to disposing of Henry's cofessed sins at the beginning of the movie (the worm coming out of Henry's mouth) the scarred man in the planet appears to prevent Henry from opting for suicide during his dream sequence. He silently reminds Henry of his sacrifice (the bleeding tree) though it is in vain as Henry shows God what he really is underneith. (the baby)

The last is a theme that occurs in all Lynch movies:

Electricity and electrical lighting = The presence of good. Darkness = The presence of evil.

There are other aspects of the film that keep popping up, such as the reocurrence of the unlucky number thirteen. Henry waits thirteen seconds for the elevator to open up, the lady across the hall takes thirteen seconds to appear, Henry's apartment numbers add up to the number thriteen, etc. Also, there are many other images which I will let you figure out on your own.

***END OF SPOILERS***

All in all, the movie is quite an experience. This is a film that you will either love or utterly hate. For myself, I managed to "click" with the movie from the first time I saw it and have enjoyed it since. Repeated viewings only add to the enjoyment of the film, as you begin to notice more and more that you never saw before. All in all, I say that it is an excellent and extremely layered film.

With that, I give you some fun facts about the movie:

-The pencil eraser machine actually worked. It was put together by Lynch and a friend of his.

-To this day, Lynch will still not disclose how he constructed the amazingly convincing baby creature, though he claims is was created with substance/objects that anyone could find around the house.

-Jack Nance's hair was incredibly malleable. Literally, all it took was a little bit of trimming on either side of his head and some combing to get it to stand upright.

-In order to get a better sense of textures for the film (possibly for the organs of the baby) Lynch dissected a dead cat.

-When driving around town with the "Henry hair" Jack Nance would sit in the center seat while Lynch and someone else would sit on either side to keep his gravity-defying hair from being seen.