About this product

Product Information

Based on a Czech folk tale, this is the story of Karel and Bozena a married couple who long to have a baby. Karel whilst digging up an tree stump decides to carves the roots into an image of a child and when his wife sees it her love brings the wooden form to life...

Product Identifiers

EAN5014138295967

eBay Product ID (ePID)3956704

Product Key Features

Film/TV TitleLittle Otik

ActorVeronika Zilkova, Kristina Adamcova, Jaroslava Kretschmerova, Pavel Novy, Jan Hartl

DirectorJan Svankmajer

Subtitle LanguageEnglish

FormatDVD

Release Year2003

LanguageCzech

FeaturesWith Subtitles

Aspect Ratio4:3

Run Time126 Mins

GenreDrama, General

Additional Product Features

Certificate15

Number of Discs1

Director of PhotographyJuraj Galvanek

Art DirectorJan Svankmajer

ReviewsNew York Times - ...LITTLE OTIK is a handmade dream, cobbled together from dirt, wood and more imagination than most of us can muster in our most fevered states..., Los Angeles Times - ...With the boldly bizarre, darkly funny but poignant LITTLE OTIK prodigious Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer once again creates his unique blend of live-action and animation..., Box Office - ...An acquired taste that fans will likely enjoy..., Film Comment - ...LITTLE OTIK may be the director's most subversive feature yet....Svankmajer remains untamed....It is precisely for this reason that he deserves our attention...

Additional InformationJan Svankmajer's fourth feature is the story of a thirtysomething couple who, despite their infertility, yearn to have a baby. When Karel (Jan Hartl), the husband, digs up a stump that resembles a newborn, he varnishes it and presents it to his wife, Bozena (Veronika Zilkova), hoping to comfort her and fill the void in their lives. To his astonishment, Bozena immediately begins treating the stump like a real child, and the two dub the stump Otik. Karel's astonishment grows when Bozena manages to nurse Otik into a mewling, living baby, a newborn with a wooden body and a voracious appetite. It isn't long before Otik devours the family cat and the postman, forcing the couple into a quandary. However, Alzbetka, their precocious pre-adolescent neighbor, has discovered the couple's secret by reading a Czech folk tale that parallels the strange occurrences next door, giving the young girl an idea of her own for Otik.<BR>As in Svankmajer's superb 1996 film CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE, the director uses his trademark stop-motion animation sparingly and focuses on his characters' desires, invariably making them seem perverse (food is always particularly grotesque in Svankmajer's universe). Brilliant, funny, and frightening, LITTLE OTIK is a wonderfully entertaining and disturbing film.

Movie/TV TitleLittle Otik

Sound sourceDolby Digital Stereo

ScreenwriterJan Svankmajer

AnimationBedrich Glaser

Format DescriptionDVD 9

EditorMarie Zemanova