oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx I watched Krysar at about three in the morning in my bedroom and it absolutely terrified me. It takes major liberties with the original story, though that's all to the good. Hamelin is this ultra weird medieval labyrinth of garrets, spires, cavernous buildings, cellars and gargoyles. The people that live in it are harsh and selfish, cheat each other and are fixated on gluttony, alcohol, and prostitution. When they speak they speak in squawking untranslatable gibberish, so it's a bit like a silent movie but with a bit more menace from the onomatopoeia. The vast majority of the film shoots wooden puppets and automata, though the rats are real live rats, which is scary as hell. Obviously the townsfolk mess with the Pied Piper, and that was a bad idea.Krysar scared the hell out of me because some of the townsfolk just felt so recognisable. In the day before I watched this I went past a posh house and there were a load of large pillows outside advertised as being free, and I took one home with me feeling very satisfied because it was a fine pillow. But there's this character in the movie who takes a lot of time with fabrics and pillows making himself luxuriously comfortable, and I sure felt bad watching him led on a large white pillow, whilst I was also in the same position on mine, high up in my pit in a secure apartment block! I have to admit that I watched this movie in 5 minute segments with little breaks to absorb the shock, it was that scary. Despite its complete lack of contemporaneity in aesthetic, it felt very much in soul like a criticism of the modern capitalist world with all its locks and keys securing the wealth of the few.This film is pure unadulterated genius and I found it devastating to watch.

Eumenides_0 This is Jiri Barta's masterpiece. It's not just one of the best stop-motion animated shorts I've ever seen in my life; it's not just a fascinating adaptation of a beloved fairy-tale; it's also a technically-impressive work of cinema, a revolutionary work that sets new standards. Or at least it would be if Barta were better known in the world of cinema, or at least in a world of animation that isn't dominated by Japanese animation and Pixar.The movie is made in wood cut-outs, from the city to the characters. The architecture and anatomy is ugly, twisted and sinister. Only one character has the clean beauty of a Jiri Trnka puppet, a woman the Pied Piper falls in love with. Everything else has an atmosphere of decay and evil.To this town come hundreds of rats, destroying everything. A mysterious flutist comes in and, as the fairy tale says, drives all the rats away to a lake where they drown. The citizens of the town refuse to pay the flutist for his work and his terrifying revenge manifests itself. At this point the movie becomes less grotesque than the fairy-tale. Originally the flutist drives away the children to drown like the rats. In the movie his music changes people into rats and the population follows him to death. There's no child massacre, which left me very sad because I always thought this was a wonderful way to end the tale.After watching this movie I'm still trying to figure out whether or not the rats are real. They certainly sound real and if they are, Barta has really achieved a new level of film-making in this movie. I can't imagine how someone could train these animals to perform some of the feats they did in this movie. This and many other amazing things in the movie make this one of the best cinematic experiences I've had in a long time.

Niffiwan I first decided that I had to see this film after seeing a few video clips of it at a website (if you want to find them - and trust me, it's worth it - go to a search engine and type in "Krysar clips"). The animation style was like nothing that I had ever seen before. If anything, it was like cubism in motion - more like the 1920 expressionistic horror film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (except in colour) than any traditional animation. Perspectives are skewed, characters are disfigured, and everything is made out of a material that you don't usually hear about in connection with animation - wood.Having decided to watch it, I did a bit of searching and found that it was available on two different DVDs. First, there was a DVD available through some Japanese sites called "Labyrinth Of Darkness & Light" which featured most of Jiri Barta's work including Krysar (it came out to 118 minutes in total). Unfortunately, it cost 6000Yen, which is about $55USD - a little too expensive for me (EDIT: As of September 16, 2006, this DVD has been released in the US for a much cheaper price, and with English subtitles! This is definitely the version to get!). Second, there was another version of Krysar available by itself on a PAL R2 DVD for around 20 Euro on several French online stores. That's the one I bought - the PAL R2 thing wasn't an issue for me because I have a modded DVD player (they cost as little as $80 nowadays). This DVD also included a colourful 10-page booklet with an interview with Jiri Barta.There were no English subtitles on my DVD, but this wasn't really problem because outside of the introduction all characters speak only gibberish in the film, a technique which works surprisingly well and also makes this film transcend language barriers.Once I finally watched the film, I was simply amazed. Not only was the visual design simply sublime at all levels, but the music was memorable and appropriate, and the film worked really well as a story - the fears that I had about this film turning out to be just eye candy were completely allayed. There were many scenes in this movie which were genuinely powerful, a fair few which were amusing (in a grotesque way), and some which were quite beautiful. Even now as I write this, there are many scenes that I still remember vividly - the scene where the Hamelin city elite engage in debauchery, spilling wine and gnawing on meat bones; the scenes where the rats take complete control of the city at night; the scene in which a painting is created as the pied piper plays on his pipe; and many others.If you're a fan of the unusual, and don't mind seeing something so completely different from Hollywood and Disney movies (which is not to say that there's nothing to appreciate in Hollywood/Disney movies), you really owe it to yourself to see this film. Watch the film clips that you can find on a Google search, and if you like what you see, just remember - there's a lot more of that in the full film, and those aren't even the best bits.One thing that I DISLIKED though was that the "Krysar" DVD came without a chapter select, which in my opinion is inexcusable for a film that's nearly an hour long. Still, the image and sound quality were very good. I guess life can't be perfect. ;)If you have any more questions about this film or the DVD, don't hesitate to send me a private message (you can do this by clicking on my name at the top of this review).

Petr Vavruch The rough puppets supposed to be Gothic and artistic are just plain ugly, unmatched and confusing. However, one must admit that they give the film, which as a whole is well put together, a special atmosphere making it striking and memorable.