ㅤㅤ “it was important for us to consider our love for film and to work within the vocabulary of cinema, which is a well-developed and eloquent language. cartoons and animations don’t really address that language. they make pedantic compositions based on storyboards and the idea that the camera is very difficult to move. that’s not what excites us about cinema. the camera is a personality in itself. it was important that the film moves like a film.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ— maciek szczerbowski 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦: psychological thriller 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦: stopmotion 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺: chris lavis & maciek szczerbowski 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 ㅤㅤ• the creators went on a 2 week train trip in early preparations for this film, interviewing passengers, employees, filming out the window, observing passengers in the middle of the night to see how they sat/slept, and spending time getting a true sense for how trains moved to ensure that they could truly bring the idea of a train to life in their medium. ㅤㅤ• madame tutli putli's eyes look so expressive and real because well.. they are real! laurie maher's eyes were filmed and edited onto the puppet. this was my first time seeing something that utilizes this technique and while mildly unsettling i would love to see it more, especially in psychological/horror stopmotion. 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 ㅤㅤ٠࣪⭑ i was just going to make a simple review of this but i ended up so enamored with the film i went down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about the making process, and ended up rewatching the film several times so i believe it's safe to say madame tutli putli now tops the list for animation i've watched this year and while it's probably too soon to say, i don't know if anything else will be able to top it. ㅤ ㅤㅤi can't believe this is on youtube for free it's such a beautiful work. i hadn't realized on my first watch that the eyes were human because it was about 4am and i had my brightness down low, i was just so mesmerized by the expansive range of emotions every character was able to portray. ㅤ ㅤㅤthough the story wasn't the focus of this work, it was a cool depiction of what i personally believe to be death. the symbolism of her "becoming" the moth at the end especially drove that home. i enjoyed the development of seeing fear of the unknown dissipate into gentle acceptance, almost welcome curiosity, for what comes mysteriously and unavoidable. ㅤ ㅤㅤwatching this reminded me of how much i despised stopmotion and claymation as a kid. i hated how uncanny and disjointed the characters looked which is ironically what makes it one of my favorite mediums today. ㅤ ㅤㅤ