The Best of Zagreb Film - Nudity Required

Rating:
Summary: That which does not entertain me, makes me stronger
Review: Apparently Croatian animation company, Zagreb Film, has been busy over the past 40 years or so. According to the film's opening they've "produced 600 animated films, winning more than 400 international awards" and coined a style known as "the Zagreb school."

OK, being the ugly American I am, I had no idea any of this was going on. So, in an effort to broaden my knowledge of animation, and indeed the world, I added "The Best of Zagreb Film - Nudity Required" to my Netflix queue.

I felt so worldly when it arrived and I meant to dig in and see what this was all about. I mean, come on, it has the word "nudity" right in the title! How bad can it be?!

About two weeks later (I'm a busy guy, what can I say!) I've finally found the time sit down and really give this collection some time and attention and here's what I've come up with:

Wow. This is some really weird stuff.

It's not as if I was looking for Disney-esque animation with singing forest animals or anything, but this was outside even my broad expectations.

I'll review each short individually, starting with:

"Way to Your Neighbor" by Nedeljko Dragic

This odd little film portrays a rotund character showering, applying deodorant and playing his genitalia like a bass before dressing in a tux and driving an X-8 tank out of his garage.

That's the cartoon.

Apparently it's very funny, but I don't get it.

"Satiemania" by Zdenko Gasparovic

Set to the music of Erik Satie, this set of five odd vignettes includes 1) Lots of characters walking, 2) Panning over static images of various faces, 3) Reflections in the rain (the best of the five in my opinion), 4) A woman undressing and falling into bed, and 5) A lot of random violence and a male character with a penis for a head dancing.

I didn't get this one either.

"Album" by Kresimir Zimonic

This was another surreal short revolving around a young woman perusing a photo album. Then a dog bites her and steals her pants and more weirdness ensues. There's a lot of horse imagery that if I was smarter I'd probably remark "Aha!" to and smirk appreciatively.

I'm not that smart.

"Plop" by Zlatko Pavlinic

"Plop" chronicles the exploits of an overtly suave male and the woman he seduces at the local bar to come and clean his apartment. She gets her revenge, however, by sucking him into the vacuum, but in the ends finds she can't get her love out of the carpeting.

The text at the beginning of the film describes this as "zany." I found it odd at best.

"The Match" by Kresimir Zimonic

I'm going to review this look at soccer as a metaphor for war by simply listing the notes I typed while watching below:

Rock music

Space war

Smoking

Soccer players stretching

News report

Crowd

Weird images and jazz

Tiresome

Back to soccer

Woman and dragon

Knight comes to save her

More soccer

Space war again

Robot

Soccer players sure are smoking a lot

Avant garde jazz

Players are nude women, then not

French kissing

Space war yet again

Player takes part of other players leg - what the...

Roman gladiator

Chicken soup

Soccer with tanks

Man smoking then puking

Praying for this to end

Knight gets girl then kills her

Man burns up

More with the space war

Globe turning

Thank god it's over

"Dream Doll" by Zlatko Grgic & Bob Godfrey

This cartoon is the classic boy meets blow-up sex doll story. Of course the doll is later raped by thugs prompting some sort of flying sex doll mass exodus that I can't explain.

"Mouseferatu" by Darko Cesar

A takeoff on the Dracula legend, this time the vampire is a cute little mouse that uses kung fu to gain entry into his victim's abode. Once inside he finds the sexy naked she-cat and bites her, only to find himself in a cage when dawn comes.

Really the only clever part of this piece is the title.

Well, that's all of them. In general the animation was good, if a little too artsy for my tastes. The stories (where applicable) didn't really resonate with me, but maybe the cultural and geographic divide was just a bit wide to connect.

It was pretty easy (fun too!) to make light of this stuff. Some of the visuals really lend themselves to mockery (at points I was reminded of the "Worker and Parasite" cartoon Krusty was forced to substitute for Itchy and Scratchy), but it's not really entirely fair either.

I'm no animation expert, and I really don't have any organized art training, so take my comments with a grain of salt. I have to believe that the "Zagreb school" has its fans, and that somewhere someone is watching this DVD and really digging it.

I draw gag cartoons for a living and I have to believe that, in general, the Zagreb crowd doesn't think I'm a genius either. "The Best of Zagreb Film - Nudity Required" just sort of left me confused and annoyed. I can't say I'm glad I saw this, but I've decided to co-opt Nietzsche's idea and end with this thought - "That which does not entertain me, makes me stronger."

Rating:
Summary: just The Best Animation I've Ever Seen
Review: being VJ/videoartist and looking mostly for really unusual stuff, I was enormously excited by this collection volume. two films are so visually and dramatically intense, you may just get drowned in them. yet another one is _very_ funny story. and all the others will not disappoint you as well (unless of course you prefer simple linear-minded stupid cartoons)

amongst couple of dozens animation collections i have and use, this one is rated The Second (The First is french issue Animation 2000).

Rating:
Summary: A great disappointment
Review: I had high expectations for this collection, but was greatly disappointed. I am a fan of the Simpsons, Courage: The Cowardly Dog, Futurama, King of the Hill, Dexter and Doraemon. If you share my taste in animation, you might be compelled to do what I did... I got bored, had to fast foward the tape - to see if it got to something that I cared for -, couldn't finish it and when I ejected it from the VHS, it went directly to my file 13 (the garbage can). Sorry for the "artists" of Zagreb, but this collection won my "all thumbs down" award.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent animation from Croatia
Review: This video is great, if you like animation. The shorts are funny, serious, and thought provoking. Alot of the animation is superb, but alot of it is also kind of cheesy, but you get used to it. Having grown up with these movies, I am pleased to see that someone has finally released them to DVD and video. If you are really into the animation scene, or of Croatian heritage, you must definately check this out. Others, beware, it may not be your cup of tea.

Cheers.