Synopsis
Stop-motion animated short film in which a puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.
Street of Crocodiles
1986 Directed by Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
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Certainly the peak of the Quay brothers artistry. Suspenseful to the core, enygmatic, mysterious, engrossing, darkly atmospheric and rationally incomprehensible, this human-created nightmare is a stream of consciousness of inert objects searching to gain life, getting rid of the screws that attach them to lifelessness and literally resorting to meat (flesh) to incarnate the material covering of a living being. The puppet searches meaning in all of this and, probably, comes to the realization that he needs the same thing, since he is an artificial creation as well.
It's indescribable. The rational side will never construct a coherent meaning for this masterpiece, leaving it frustrated, but for those that apply the Bressonian and Chaplinesque emotional approach to art, the experience…
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A very creepy looking stop motion short film that explores many themes left open for audiences to decipher. From war to a realization of loneliness and our inner demons, the score and production design does a great job displaying all these dark memories the directors been come to be known for.
All in all, while its pretty short and its experimental nature doesn’t come with a straightforward story, which in turns hurts the film from time to time, if you are looking for something creepy and thought-provoking, I’ll give this one a watch.
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The Music Box
Street of Crocodiles
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A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas -
Hoop-Tober, year three, film #12:
I've lost sight of my surroundings, scared to step into the shadows, suffice it to say that the sable of the shadows may be the shapeless, saprophagous sandman that had summoned me to its cellar years ago -- kept me here, unbeknownst to myself & my siblings, forever searching -- and I sit trapped somewhere between a scapegrace and a scout of sadness, far beneath this somber, sunless street; lurid, lifeless and lower than even the lizards care to dwell.
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Earlier I stated that today was my first foray into the Quay brothers. However after a couple of minutes into this I realized I had seen this some years ago. Probably when I was getting into Nine Inch Nails.
Elegantly horrid, the movements of immovable objects rendered unnaturally innate. It's absorbingly vexing musically, something that seems to be a theme amongst their work but this is the strongest example out of what little I've seen. Few films give such a grimy aura of desolation and futility as faultlessly executed here. Definitely an experience and one of the most powerful short films I've ever seen.
Absolutely recommend.
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1st thought: this reminds me of the Nine Inch Nails' video for Closer. (Turns out it was heavily inspired by it.)
2nd thought: This is like if Varda's artist junk gleaners made a short.
3rd thought: Why do I have such a hard time not falling asleep when there's no dialogue?
4th thought: This is super creepy and will infiltrate my nightmares.
5th thought: Fans of Stalker and La Jetee will love this! Quay Brothers may have been fans too.
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In anticipation of Christopher Nolan's QUAY I have started my journey of the Quay brother's work. For those of you who aren't familiar (like I was) the Quay brothers are identical twins from Pennsylvania making stop motion films. They have been crafting their own little worlds since the 70s, ignored by the general public, picked up and loved by animation junkies. Their work being heralded by some as the most original work of the 80s. I start my journey with Street of Crocodiles, possibly the darkest, wildest 20 minutes in animation I've seen.
Stop motion is not an easy medium to master, and master is not exactly what's happening with the Quays. Street of Crocodiles is rough around the edges.…
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First of all, I would like to thank everyone for one thousand (1000!) followers. I never thought that would be possible when I joined this site just one year ago. Thank you so much.
Now, a review of one of my favorite pieces of animation of all time.
Street of Crocodiles is a strange and creepy short. the jittery stop-motion animation gives a feeling of unease that's only amplified by the spine-chilling music. I can't take my eyes away from this thing.
It's beautifully nightmarish. Like a cross between Silent Hill and Eraserhead. A masterpiece.
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An amazing little stop motion short that shows a puppet lost in some sort of mechanical puppet world, where he involves himself in the construction of another puppet (maybe?). It's dark and aloof, but with a sort of cabaret grimness that makes me think of Tom Waits' Rain Dogs or a Beat Circus album.
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1st Brothers Quay
Like many people I've seen who've logged this, my first response was complete bafflement. The images make an impression, but I cannot verbalise why they do so. They're complex, dense, highly referential, but I have little to no map as to those references. They're rooted in a deep appreciation of the strange nooks and crannies of European literature and Outsider Art, things that only became clear when i did some reading around the subject. Said reading was Suzanne Buchan's 'Into a Metaphysical Playroom', which from what browsing I've done seems to be a very interesting and well written text. There may even be a paper in here about disability and its relationship to the Quay brothers. In…
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Adapted from a book by Polish writer Bruno Schulz and directed by Stephen and Timothy Quay, Street of Crocodiles features a live-action opening before evolving to be a wordless fantasy of wonderous stop-motion animation. The twenty-one-minute film observes a puppet protagonist being unrestrained from his strings and warily commences in roaming the dusty and darkened rooms surrounding him. It draws heavily on a myriad of ideas and often employs a somewhat absurdist approach in its juxtapositioning of images which incites a great deal of ambiguity. Czechoslovakian animator Jan Švankmajer is an evident influence, and the nature of objects such as disfigured dolls are heavily symbolic. The handcrafted and arduously created animation breathtakingly shifts fluidly through an opaque and claustrophobic macrocosm. This is a remarkable piece of work.
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In the wink of an eye we may no longer be who we think we are.
the haunted places, the eerie corners,
the shadows are the home of this creepy mourners.the walls full of dust and desolation,
there is nothing here but silhouettes, emptiness and isolation.explore the house, beware the darkness,
look at the creepy puppets and befriend the madness.haunting surroundings, silent as the pictures on the wall,
suspenseful but peaceful, the night falls.always with our weird-but-awesome style,
we will dance on the Street of Crocodiles. -
Quite honestly a stunning achievement of stop motion animation above all else. That aspect alone is a given statement for the film's brilliance but it also combines an imaginative surrealist environment with a hauntingly appropriate string musical score. Thus creating an all around macabre experiential illusion of the mind.
I am really stunned by the craft of this film above all else and the Quay Brothers tediously crafted every dirty, dusty and rust coated texture here into as they put it the "wooden esophagus", a mechanical wasteland for uncoordinated puppets. The surrealism displayed appears nearly nightmarish in both the dark dilapidated interior that the puppets inhabit and also the confused lack of guidance the protagonist puppet faces in a plight…