email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

GOCRITIC! Animafest Zagreb 2019

GoCritic! Capsule Review: A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts

by 

- We review the winner of Best Croatian Film Award at Animafest Zagreb

GoCritic! Capsule Review: A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts

Brilliance is in the eye of the beholder. This could be the premise of A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts (Estonia/Croatia), the new film by Morten Tšinakov and Lucija Mrzljak, which received the Best Croatian Film Award at Animafest Zagreb last week.

This oddly impressive film consists of a fragmented narrative with at least four different storylines and features unlikely protagonists who will all eventually meet. It all begins with a crowd of identical-looking men in suits who act bored until another man is born, wearing a slightly different suit. First, they applaud him for trivial gestures such as lifting his arm in a theatrical manner, then they discard him when he makes a mistake. They’re in good company: the film’s other characters - including a very romantic exhibitionist and two men sharing the same body but having highly different interests - engage in further nonsensical, absurd activities also.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts is an entertaining tour-de-force of digital animation that keeps the audience constantly on its toes. Moreover, there are numerous self-aware and ironic references to contemporary Estonian animation such as Sander Joon’s Velodrool (2016), Chintis Lundgren’s Life with Herman H. Rott (2015) or Kaspar JancisCrocodile (2009). Whereas the film’s timing, animation style and the opaque storytelling are highly indebted to one of the most prolific Estonian filmmakers Priit Pärn, the film looks to Lundgren in terms of humour and its portrayal of kinky desire. This is no coincidence: Pärn, Lundgren, Jancis and many others were also on the production team of this film. With this unmissable nod to its creative origins and surroundings, A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts can be understood as both an homage and an ironic comment on the art and film world where the attribution of brilliance is random, highly subjective and often totally absurd.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy