So after returning from dinner (barbecue, yum…the brisket!), we started the evening slate of movies. Sandy, again with his collection packed up in Utah, made only two requests this time around: Curse of the Faceless Man, watched that morning, and the Czech 1983 stop animated film The Pied Piper. Luckily, this was available for viewing on Tubi.
We open on an elaborate set of gears and realize the entire film is going to be set in an amazing elaborate, physically constructed world. I’ve said it before: I realize in my head that you can create Art digitally. However, my heart is never going to regard it with the same awe and love as things constructed and painted and animated by human hands.
As for Pied Piper, even if you find the film’s narrative less than engaging which most will not, I can’t imagine anyone with our sensibilities not being blown away by the artifice and uncanny skill and patience used to create this vividly realized world.
It most reminded me of Invention for Destruction (1958), Karel Zeman’s similarly amazing film that merges actors onto a similarly elaborate, physically-constructed world designed to resemble woodcut illustrations. Since Zeman is similarly Czech, and presumably a much bigger deal in his country of origin, I can’t imagine his films didn’t majorly inspire the makers of The Pied Piper. There’s a nifty three-film set of Zeman’s work available via Criterion. Meanwhile, when you have a spare hour check out Pied Piper (1986) on Tubi. It’s well worth a look.
