WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The experience of the unknown. Seeking out those adventures which are made up of events that we’ve never encountered before can be either looked forward to or dreaded, for we know how much as human beings we seem to desire stable, calculated, and pre-planned escapades as opposed to the unexpected. However, have we ever contemplated what the unforeseen might be like for–a puppet? Meet Iv Ra (voiced by Anna Leevia), a perfectly normal lady who enjoys being out and about in nature, taking in the beauty and freedom it brings her, and basically fulfilled having a firm grasp on her sense of actuality and what it is to be alive and kicking. Yes, it’s true, existence is good.
Yet, one day, Iv comes upon a sudden and astonishing phenomenon, a mystic dancer (Danilo Andres), who takes possession of her and whisks her away into the world of Topinambur, a mysterious realm that immediately throws Iv into a frantic state of confusion yet curiosity. First attempting to interact with her “captor”, unsuccessfully so, Iv chooses to explore this strange world and find knowledge and understanding on her own, which quickly becomes an exercise in further uncertainty, hesitation, and utter exhaustion given Topinambur’s desert-like climate. Onwards and onwards Iv travels, surrounded by the constantly incongruous lands she now wanders aimlessly through. However, just as quickly as she was taken away, she finds herself back in her own reality, thankful yet perhaps incomplete.
Next, my Mind:
Welcome to the dominion of the peculiar, uncommon, surreal, and phantasmagorical when it comes to this 10-minute, totally outside-the-box indie short film effort originating from Germany through Polish-born director/animator Jan Luis Gottwald, a synesthetic poet, who longs to keep exploring what he terms “poepsia”–psychedelic poetry, where “one merges with the object of contemplation itself. The physical world diffuses into our body and our perception is being connected with the vibration of environment. We fuse with colors, textures and sounds.” There is no arguing this very “out there” concept when it comes to the film itself, which is an incredibly inventive, innovative, ultramodern, and creative amalgamation of stop-motion animation, live-action nature video, drawn animation, green screen performance footage, and collages of images all fusing together to form its atypical narrative about one puppet’s journey into an alternative zone of fantastical psychedelia, perhaps as an illustration of how our own sense of awareness gets muddled, disoriented, and distracted when facing situations that come upon us so abruptly that there’s really no discerning it but only experiencing it as an all-encompassing event that can ultimately change our entire perspective on things.
It’s like being contained with a dream where everything feels so overtly real that the only sensations you can really describe would be Visually the elements as mentioned above truly make for a viewing experience unlike any conventional movie-going, immersing us in a kaleidoscopic voyage filled with bright colors, the blazing sun, barren sands, and a naked tribal dancer (yes, simply be aware there are moments of totally non-sexual male nudity present) who serves as the film’s “antagonist”, while the sequences set in “our world” are shots of more tangible notions for our minds to grasp via forests, clouds, and stone walls along with the “phantom leaves” that signal a gateway to another universe is about to be presented to our unwary protagonist Iv. No usual dialogue is present, as the only voice we hear is the minor, indiscernible musings of Iv as she encounters the bizarre occurrences and travels she does. This, for me, is another prime example of fringe cinema, but so worthwhile to entertain and take in, just for the sheer unorthodox approach and undeniable draw its unusual format elicits. It will be screening at this year’s Berlin Liberi Film Festival.
Leevia brings the few overall vocalizations Iv has to life with simple ease and uncomplicated delivery, yet still manages to infuse even these random “Hmmm’s”, “Oh’s!” etcetera with a genuineness that makes us as the viewer feel the exact same way Iv does throughout, probably because on the surface we actually ARE as perplexed but completely filled with inquisitiveness as she is. Andres provides no voice but plenty of movement as the mystic dancer who “kidnaps” Iv and transports her to his magical realm, where he offers unheard orations Iv attempts but fails to decipher while engaging in almost primal, tribal-style contemporary/interpretive dance movements that very much add to the already off-center perception of what’s real. In total, “Tales of Topinambur” is experimental filmmaking at it’s best, leaving your mind to form its own ideas of what ultimate concepts and themes can be taken away from it while showing absolute, avant-garde artistry and a willingness to present new visions of what filmmaking can be, which is exactly what indie cinema does by having that freedom to go well beyond mainstream.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
