1970 Gulliver adaptation
Rating: 16/20
Plot: Apparently, a section of Gulliver's Travels.
Fell in love with this one early after some Keaton-esque car shenanigans before this launched fontanel-first into some feverishly-paced surrealism. This is based on some part of Swift's Gulliver's Travels that doesn't involve him being much bigger or much smaller than everybody else, but early, it's more like a sinister Lewis Carroll. Main character--Gulliver, naturally--is in a black and white cartoon, and floors are hopping and birds are emerging from pockets. After the initial flurry of surrealism reminiscent of Cocteau's Orphic trilogy, things slow down and allow a more traditional story to emerge, though that's as fractured and as borderline incoherent as a dream.
Sadly, this Czech new wave flick didn't make the government as happy as it made me. It was banned and director Pavel Juracek, who showed autuerist promise here, didn't work again. The whole thing's kind of ruined my weekend. What a loss that was!
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