Et Cetera (1966) User Reviews

What Has Svankmajer Done?

[aburk903 · 6/10 · 22 October 2017]

To the tune of Carnival of Venice, we see the cyclic behavior of humanity- always repetition, always more rapid; an increase of efficiency without progress. One undergoes a process of four steps, flying greater distances with each- only to ultimately return to the point of origin and abandon one's wings. One whips the animal and masters it, forces it to contort into one's own image and thus becomes the animal who is now controlled by that which was formerly mastered. This is the dialectic of humanity and nature (or, perhaps better, Self and Other). Finally, the building of one's home- this does not entirely cycle as the other two, for the individual first inverts the starting place by drawing a line between self and the text which is the foundation (the grounds) for construction. The house is drawn frantically- indifferent exteriority and claustrophobic interiority cannot be overcome.

I would suggest that, although the hat would not be mine if it did not have three corners, Svankmajer and the viewer also enter into a fourth cyclic process of stagnation here. Why else am I writing?

And so on...

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 10 February 2010]

This short is basically constructed of three minor shorts with the same general theme. In one, a semi-transparent figure shows off how far different lengths of wings can allow him to fly, as compared to how he jumps. In the second, a watercolor figure directs a lion with a whip, until the lion becomes human and the human becomes a lion, at which point they trade and the exact same thing happens, back and forth. In the third and possibly the most beguiling, a figure made by cutting the shape out of a foreground so that a background shows through builds a house, but when he builds himself outside the house he can't get in and when he builds himself inside the house he can't get out, so he gets frustrated and tries over and over again. As his emotion changes, the background that fills his profile changes, from images of death when he's upset to images of birds when he's happy.

What does it all mean? Well it's the human comedy, isn't it? And so on and so on.

--PolarisDiB

I just happen to adore this one

[a-moss · 17 November 2004]

I dunno what it is with this little short movie by Jan Svankmajer.

Its a cartoon, divided into 3 parts. In one way its a pretty simple movie, but it still has some of the things that I love about Svankmajer. I have this on DVD before, and have seen it numerous times before, but I stumbled on it once again on the net.. and now I've watched it 4-5 times the last couple of days. Its really that good, in a way.

One of the parts consists of a person who makes a house, but he can't get into it. He then erases it and build it from the inside.. but then he can't get out.. and then he erases it and makes it from the outside again, but he can't get in... and it goes on and on.

What they mean exactly is not really obvious, but I guess they could mean whatever you seem to fit with it.

But what I like most about Et Cetera is that it shows that Svankmajer makes all kinds of movies, and he makes animation and stop-motion out of whatever you could name almost.

His limits is simply NOT THERE. 8/10

and on and on

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 28 August 2006]

In one of Jan Svankmajer's many quirky short films, several things continue happening. A human whips a dog, and slowly turns into a dog while the dog turns human; a man has all sorts of trouble drawing a house; and an animated figure has a weird experience with some wings. I can't figure out what would be the point of all these images, but it all just goes to show that Svankmajer had a really cool imagination. Most of us in the Western Bloc probably would never have envisioned something like this coming from the Eastern Bloc, but it did, and it's all really something. So definitely "Czech" it out.

I said that I can't figure out the point. Maybe we shouldn't try to figure those sorts of things out. We should just watch and get enthralled.

A Lesser Svankmajer

[Tornado_Sam · 30 October 2019]

"Et Cetera" is a very unique film from the career of Czech animator Jan Svankmajer for a number of reasons, most of them pertaining to the overall difference between it and his other work. It makes one wonder what the filmmaker was thinking when he created it, since his previous shorts before this had all been similar in one form or another to others, and all of which bear no resemblance to this. "The Last Trick" and "Punch and Judy" were not yet his standard style in stop-motion but were both visually interesting in their fantastic imagery; "Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll" and "A Game with Stones" both explored the concept of matching animation with music cleverly. This film is very different visually and stylistically, and doubtless was dismissed later as being preliminary work the director made prior his golden years.

What makes "Et Cetera" so unique for Svankmajer is the overall visual look of it. Instead of plain stop-motion, it is made as a cartoon with no live-action material, consisting of several different stick figures doing fantastical things. These include drawing a house which they can literally fit inside of, hitting a weird creature with a whip, and using wings to fly. While the antics are clearly meant to be impossible stunts, the movie lacks a certain element of the surreal that would make it him. There is nothing dreamlike or strange about it, just a trilogy of animation experiments mildly entertaining to see but at the same time hardly living up to what he had produced before. Then again, it's possible the film really shouldn't be compared to his other works because of how stand-alone it is for Svankmajer. It is executed well and is worthwhile for fans of the filmmaker, but at the same time inferior visually and stylistically when compared to other works.

Cut it Out

[tedg · 27 October 2002]

Spoilers herein.

Depends what you like, I suppose. At his worst, Svankmejer is trite and obvious. This is his worst.

You get the impression that he has an artistic cleverness but is rather dull in his understanding of life. So we often are served up with sophomoric statements, pounded.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 4: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.