Mindscape (1976) User Reviews

A lovely work of art

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 17 July 2008]

This is a truly amazing animated film from Canada. The entire short is done in black and white and unless you know more about the process, you might not realize how long and difficult it was to bring this film to life. Instead of hand-drawn or computer-generated animation, the film maker used thousands and thousands of tiny pins and put them on screens. Then, by manipulating the height of them, it makes the appearance of a giant picture when they are all seen together. All this is set to lovely music and the scenes continually change--morphing from one scene into another rather seamlessly. It's amazing to think about the time it took and the film truly is a work of art--and would probably be at home in a modern art museum. The only reason I didn't rate this amazing film higher is that after a while it all becomes a tad tedious, as this is NOT a film with a lot of commercial appeal.

FYI--This style film was not created by the makers of LE PAYSAGISTE. In fact, UNE NUIT SUR LE MONT CHAUVE is done by the same process and predates this film by 43 years. See them both if you have a chance. Also, I recently saw NIGHTANGEL (also by Drouin) and it is even better than this film--an amazing work of art from start to finish.

Amazing technique! --though possibly an uneasy experience

[AnnieLola · 8/10 · 13 July 2013]

First off, to anyone who wants to see this piece, just go to YouTube! There's even a version with a new electric-guitar rock soundtrack (that I personally found highly inappropriate). The more recent treatment using part of Ravel's String Quartet is far more successful, and I think a decided improvement. The original dark and dreamy piano and strings that properly accompany the film complement it well, though I found myself wishing for something a bit more cheerful partway through; this is exactly the sort of music that in a traditional dramatic narrative would signal misfortune and sorrow. Despite its beauty and the marvel of the painstakingly-achieved pinscreen animation, I wouldn't recommend this film for anyone suffering from depression or dementia-- overall it could seem too gloomy and ominous.

Some have likened it to an acid trip, which isn't off-base, though it would ultimately be of the uncomfortable type, weird without being cosmic, with none of that joyous LSD rainbow-circus "eat flowers and kiss babies" feel. Don't get me wrong; there's much beauty here, but chiefly in the first part where the shapes of nature do a slow dance of transformation. It's when a house appears that things really begin to get complicated.

At first we get a limited impression of what the artist is thinking or feeling during his experience. He's painted a nice landscape, and standing back to admire it sees that it's aligned perfectly to blend in with the scene behind; then the picture comes alive with the movement of birds and clouds in the breeze, and he gets the idea to climb through the canvas. As soon as he does so, however, the pleasant landscape starts to alter strangely, and he turns back, only to see the 'doorway' vanish. Uh-oh, he's stuck! The music turns positively sinister for a moment. After this he's mostly a passive observer, someone having a vision rather than participating in an actual adventure.

He does finally start looking alarmed towards the end; the house that beckons with opening doors shows what's at first a box of toys; watch as it changes and you'll see the teddy bear snarl with bared fangs for an instant before it vanishes into another shape and finally the whole bursts into flames, setting the house on fire... Well, I've already described too much. What exactly is creator Jacques Drouin trying to say? That one's own mind is a scary place and best not explored? Considering the effort required to achieve so much pinscreen animation, surely the message must be important.

Perhaps this would be utter desecration of the filmmaker's vision, but I have to wonder what could be made of 'Mindscape/Le Paysagiste' by colorizing (yes!) and having lighter music, perhaps harp and flute. Some of the imagery can be rather disturbing, and hardly needs to be made more so by the soundtrack. I suppose that what I'm basically suggesting is making the film easier to enjoy, and it was plainly not intended as simply something for enjoyment... but surely one would have plenty to ponder even with a less oppressive version. As it is, the film is very much worth seeing, but for some of us probably not over and over. Still, applause is due to M. Drouin for his achievement!

Pinhead would be proud.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 6 December 2021]

'Mindscape (1976)' is a stop-motion animation created entirely using a series of pins, which sounds like an even more time-consuming form of animation than most similar techniques. The piece is, in essence, a dream, a series of surrealistic images that morph between one another in lucid fashion. It's visually stunning, with several sequences provoking an almost trance-like state of awe, but there isn't all that much to it from a narrative point of view. Still, it's enjoyable for its aesthetics alone. It's an interesting idea that's executed well. 7/10.

Eerily Fascinating

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 12 July 2007]

This is another one of these incredible animated shorts that was done with painstaking patience, taking a lot of time to do just one frame, and then doing thousands after it to make an eight-minute movie. In this case, it's thousands of tiny steel pins manipulated one frame at a time. In the world of art, you may know this as "pointillism."

We see a landscape and then a painter. The painter's artwork almost blends into the country scene he has painted. He then steps into the painting. At that point, we see - this is my guess - the area slowly go back in time to what it might have looked like thousands of years ago. This constantly shifting landscapes animation, done in black-and-white, was very eerie.

Later, we are back to modern times. At that point, we see a house and a neighborhood change over time and that part was the most interesting to me.

This is a haunting animated film by Jacques Drouin and I would interested in reading more about the story he presented here. The movie was part of the DVD "Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites From The National Film Board Of Canada.

I agree.... a masterpiece

[ploughboy27 · 10/10 · 13 April 2006]

it is mind-boggling to see this short. It reminds me a little of michel gondry's video for "let forever be" by the chemical brothers. I feel reluctant making this comparison though, in a way, because it is evident that this piece of animation must have taken thousands of hours to produce. i love it.

the rendering alone shows a mastery of this obscure medium, pinscreen animation.

I still have not been able to find a clip of this piece anywhere on the internet. I saw it on TV on a channel in new york called fine arts showcase.

If anyone knows where I could view it again, please post.

The Surreal Meets Pinscreen Animation

[ShortoftheWeek · 9/10 · 13 January 2008]

Le Paysagiste/Mindscape— a surreal and breathtaking experimental short film, available for viewing thanks to the National Film Board of Canada's Focus on Animation.

The NFB Focus on Animation site is wonderful for its educational content as well as its film collection, with a superb series of articles documenting key techniques, films and filmmakers in the history of animation. Le Paysagiste is a perfect representative of what the NFB site has to offer. Created in 1976 using an obscure technique known as pinscreen animation, Le Paysagiste is considered by many the crowning achievement of the rare, but beautiful form. Instead of simply hosting the film, the sites supplementary articles represent some of the best resources for information about both pinscreen animation and the filmmaker.

At its essence, pinscreen works through shadow. A screen is poked through with groups of "pins" that can be moved in and out, and then is lit from the side. When sticking out, the pins cast a long shadow, which creates black on the screen. When pushed in, they cause no shadow and create white. Intermediate distances create different lengths of shadow and white, allowing for a whole scale of gray.

The results are what you see in Le Paysagiste, a beautiful tapestry that looks like charcoal sketches put in motion. Drouin exploits this impressionistic form in order to create a stream of conscious tour through the mind of an artist. In the film an artist is painting a lovely landscape when he finds himself able to step into the picture. Entering into this foreign world that is in fact his own, he begins a tour of psychological symbolism and random association, as objects and settings twist and morph around him.

The fleeting, transitory nature of the images bellies the intense and meticulous work needed to create them. Pinscreen is a very labor-intensive technique, which is a big reason for why it has been virtually abandoned as an art. The NFB's Focus on Animation site though reclaims and highlights historically vital works such as Le Paysagiste, making it a great resource for animation lovers.

Read this and other reviews of online short films at ShortoftheWeek.com

a masterpiece

[JMBenard-2 · 10/10 · 15 February 1999]

Just wanted to say this is an absolute masterpiece, and everyone

who's lucky enough to have a chance to see it shouldn't miss

that chance, it's a once in a lifetime. Congratulations Jacques,

give us more of the same please! (or anything else, actually)

Images of the Past

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 5 April 2019]

In a kind of Rene Magritte way, the artist is the painting. Once he climbs into it, he begins to see the roots of his subject. This is a methodically created, painstaking masterpiece. We are taken from a well painted landscape painting and given a tour of wonder. I don't agree that there is no story. There is no conventional plot. That is true. But the story is in the constantly changing images flashed across the screen.

Needed a (better) story

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 13 March 2016]

"Le Paysagiste" or "Mindscape" is a Canadian, 7.5-minute, black-and-white film from 40 years ago. The writer and director is Jacques Drouin and he used a common idea in this one. Already Georges Méliès almost a 100 years earlier had paintings come to life. And this is also all that this film we have here is about. Unfortunately, it is really nothing but atmospheric. A plot is almost non-existent and it is a perfect example of style over substance that can only fascinate simple audiences. Yes it may be a decent watch with a big orchestra and a gigantic screen, but this is nothing that has to be in order for a film to be good. This one here is not and that is why I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down from me.

Extraordinarily enthralling.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 10/10 · 30 December 2014]

Whoa. Cool, I really think they made a real little masterwork in this beautiful and enchanting short, the artistic themes of it are something that I personally believe in, and this really spoke to me, I thought it was brilliant! I don't think I've ever seen something that so simply yet so aptly sums-up in an entirely visual way all the subtle wonder and power of the imagination and what it is to have belief in something that you conjure up in your own mind so strongly that you become as much a part of it as it is a part of you. The chalky etched style of the animation which was done with a technique that I had never heard of before, is very much one of my favourite kinds, and it's so rich and incredibly well done here. To me it still looks so fantastic that it has a timeless quality, it doesn't even look like it's coming from 1976! It simply must have taken years to bring it all to life, but however long and painstaking it might have been, it was definitely worth the effort, and I just find every last second amazing to look at. It's so ingenious and mesmerising as the artist becomes so enraptured by the scenic landscape before him that he's painting, that he steps into his canvas, which then disappears, and it's like you don't know where the world of his imagination ends or begins - what a concept! I don't agree that it's in any way eerie or gloomy, or that it drags, it's ethereal and strange, neither particularly colourful or uplifting, nor bleak or dark, I find it as stark and intangible as a very solemn dream. However, as it reaches its conclusion there is the more ominous imagery of the ticking clock and the picture world going down in flames, which I took of being symbolic of how occasionally in life as you grow weary and soul-tired your special talents can seem to disappear with the passing of time. But I believe that can never go away forever, as it shows at the end when all the creativity goes back to where it all began in the man's mind, stored away in a little box, the gifts are merely resting in a place deep inside, waiting for the right time to begin again. So yeah I thought it was a mighty magnificent beautiful short and I just loved it, thought it was very meaningful.. Farewell!