Logo

Cinephai.com

June 20th, 1984

The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer

In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

Recommendations

Street of Crocodiles
This Unnameable Little Broom
Ran
Spartacus
Darkland: The Return
Commando
Lady Bird
Bohemian Rhapsody
Oppenheimer
The Lighthouse
Titanic
Arrival
Pulp Fiction
Interstellar
The Prestige
Into the Wild
Jaws
The Silence of the Lambs
Hush
The Perks of Being a Wallflower