Words, Words, Words (1991) User Reviews

Hilarious look at how people talk

[sbwoodside · 8/10 · 15 August 2009]

Call me a die-hard animation buff, but this is a hilarious look at how people communicate. Michaela Pavlátová takes out the words of a crowd of people in a café and replaces them with pictures and symbols. Her drawings are so spot on in terms of how people really communicate, the giant elephant is a horrible scandal, the dominoes of the getting-to-know you game, the juggling balls of someone trying to be entertaining. This is how a visual person sees talk. And it's all done very, very funny.

It definitely deserves the awards. The animation style is a bit crude but the social dynamics and reflection of life are spot on.

Words, words, words

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 10 June 2015]

This is an Oscar-nominated 8-minute short film by director Michaela Pavlátová. She does animated movies to this day, her last being in 2012 and this one here is actually her second film as a director. This film deals with lots of people communicating verbally in a café. Don't be scared because the language here is listed as Czech. There is no talking in here. We do not hear the words the characters are saying, we see them, be it in the shape of elephants, clouds or parts of a puzzle. My favorite scene was maybe when two men were arguing. Another person comes and switches out the words they were saying, so they were basically saying exactly what the other man said before and yet they keep arguing like nothing ever happened. This is really nice way of depicting how they really only argued for the sake of arguing and not because their opinions mattered to them. Another part I liked was when the two lovers are together, everything seems so harmonic and then the final part of the puzzle does not fit. Maybe they really are not the right person for the other. Yeah, all in all a very smart short film. The music fits nicely too. I personally did not like the way the people were animated that much, but it wasn't terrible either and that's just personal taste anyway. Recommended and thumbs up for the Academy not overlooking this film, even if it was made far far away from the United States.

The Point?

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 24 October 2021]

I am an avid animation fan, but this left me cold. I am grading it on its uniqueness and visual creativity. However, I never got any real feel for a direction. I assume it is to represent how people interact verbally, but what are those things?

Excellent short which visually represents conversations

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 17 June 2014]

This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead:

This is a fascinating short about conversation which uses no spoken words. It shows a variety of conversations between people at different tables in a café with balloons representing words. The visuals make the nature of the conversation and the participants most effectively. There's a running gag involving a resourceful dog that's beautiful.

The centerpiece of the short is the relationship, if one can call it that, between a female patron and the obviously infatuated waiter serving her. She, of course, doesn't even notice him. She does, however, notice a much more attractive and younger man and they begin a conversation, building slowly and then their "words" begin fitting together like jigsaw puzzle pieces until just one piece will complete the "puzzle"-and they can't fill that space. One thing leads to another and he stalks off angry. She tries to call him back, but he leaves.

The waiter shyly comes forward and fills in that final piece. The ending is rather poignant. This short is well worth seeking out. Most highly recommended.

Probably not everyone's cup o' tea

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 11 February 2008]

While interesting in style, RECI, RECI, RECI is probably not a film that will appeal to anyone other than die-hard animation buffs. There isn't so much a story as a weird way of showing what people are saying by using cut out words. The animation style is unique but not especially pleasant. There are sound effects and sounds (such as people saying 'aahh') but no dialog--just what is in writing.

Frankly, I don't get it. After watching it, I still didn't see much of a point and it seemed less a cartoon short and more of an unsuccessful experiment. However, the Oscar people were impressed and nominated it for Best Animated Short. However, the category was otherwise well represented that year and RECI, RECI, RECI didn't stand a prayer. I just found it to be strange and quite unpleasant.