Animation for Adults
A selection drawn from the rich and varied history of animation, with an eye to works for general audiences that push their stories and design into bravura realms. This month’s spotlight falls upon two feature-length films by Marcell Jankovics—a purveyor of trippily colorful folk tales who was Hungary’s best-known animator.
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The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes
Directed by the Quay Brothers | 101 mins | 2004
“Absolutely entrancing!!!” Guy Maddin closed his "Film Comment" review of the Quay Brothers’s second feature with a tripled exclamation—a testament to the rare and painstaking artistry they bring to their signature blend of stop-motion and live acti... -
Backbone Tale
Directed by Jérémy Clapin | 9 mins | 2004
Clapin’s first short is a game of Tetris as much as it is a love story. It centers on a man whose spine bends at a striking right angle: his eyes can gaze only downwards, his hat perched on the back of his head. The appearance of a woman whose back bends ... -
Skhizein
Directed by Jérémy Clapin | 13 mins | 2008
“I am exactly 91cm from myself,” frets Henry, the central figure in this Annecy-and Cannes-awarded account of a life uncentered. After being struck by a meteorite, Henry finds that he must negotiate to the material world—sitting in a chair, opening a win... -
Palmipedarium
Directed by Jérémy Clapin | 10 mins | 2012
Clapin followed up his acclaimed short "Skhizein" (2008) with this wordless and unsettlingly ambiguous fable about a boy who encounters a scraggly avian creature while duck hunting with his father. It’s a short whose placid surfaces belie a latent, buddi...
