I know what you’re thinking: what in the world is this? Late last year, I came across several movies on YouTube; some of which include this, INLAND EMPIRE, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, UHF, and a few others. I heard of Mike Jittlov a few years earlier as I saw “Mouse Mania” on one of the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs. Just watching it is amazing.
I watched this differently. This was based on the short of the same name; I saw this after the movie. I’m telling you to do the opposite.
This movie is self-referential. It’s all about Mike Jittlov making his short film, The Wizard of Speed and Time. As a former animation major, I get some of the humor, like how Mike tries to explain how stop-motion animation is done and people assume that the objects move without human input.
It’s done in the same vein as UHF but more animation-based and in-joke heavy. It helps to at least go over the animation process if you want to get some of the jokes.
Now, this has only been given a VHS and Laserdisc release. I’m looking to snag a VHS copy of my own but that’s going to be hard to find locally. It’s on YouTube in full, so I’d watch it there. It’s a one-of-a-kind film that likes to poke fun at itself while at the same time has some autobiographical tones. It’s a rather obscure cult film, though not as obscure as that insanely impossibly elusive Report that’s on the 1001 list.
7.5/10
Video As Life 