Foreverisacastironmess123 Review of A Fantasy

A Fantasy (1908)

A one hundred and five year-old little work of Gothic art in motion that still works today.

[7/10 · 20 December 2013]

Urm...just about! This incredibly ancient short is, for what it is, still visually very fascinating and fun to watch, and that's really something because despite what you may have heard, that is *not* always the case with animated shorts that are this old. I have personally found many silent short monochromatic films to be nigh-on unwatchable. One or the other, I generally must have either colour or sound, and for me the lack of both is usually a bad combination. But that's not the case with this one, it's the exception to the rule! Probably helps that it's over in a flash.. It's basic and primitive of course, but I think the grainy quality works and is nice because it enhances the slight surreality of it. The strange glowing static design of the ever-moving stick figure caricatures and lack of any music give it an almost timeless quality. And for me, no noise in this case makes it easier to concentrate on the imagery, and there's a good amount of it to say it's not even two minutes long. It almost looks like a child's storybook. I liked the part where the figure gets sucked into the bottle, which then balloons into a kind of flower. The action is nonsensical yet at the same time seems to all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. It's not hard to follow as there really is nothing to follow. You're just supposed to feast your eyes and go! I just love this short's real title, "Fantasmagorie", such a perfectly magical and marvelous word that seems to sum it all up! If you enjoy the randomness in the animation of this, I'd highly recommend that you check out the Fleischer Betty Boop cartoons of the early 1930's which are similarly surreal, only it's taken to the extreme! In it's own odd and very antiquated way, this short is beautiful and I'd recommend it to any fan of the beginnings of animation, or just plain the weird and obscure. It's nowhere near perfect, but it is good and definitely deserves to be seen and appreciated.