Harvie Krumpet (Animated) (DVD)

...he honed his vision of Harvie Krumpet, a 22-minute claymation film bearing his hallmark lumpen grey figures (somewhere between Wallace and Grampa Simpson). He made a series of short films (each one espousing themes generally not considered the domain of animation, such as disability and death) and finally worked up to his magnum opus, the result of 14 months of painstaking work.

Winner of the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, ...
...sticking to clearly realistic principles, Harvie makes the most of this simple tale of bad luck and learning to live with it. As such there’s everything from snoozing gently in an armchair at a retirement home to delusional Busby Berkeley routines featuring little old men in wheelchairs.

And Harvie pulls no punches. Other than dealing sensitively with Harvie’s Tourette’s, Elliot doesn’t flinch from including a whole range of wonderfully ... more

Smoke it to the butt.”

Born in a freezing Polish winter in 1922, Harvek Milos Krumpetski is a man destined for bad luck, even after he changes his name and emigrates to Australia. Never mind the Tourette’s Syndrome, it’s the losing his family and being struck by lightning it’s going to be harder to deal with...

(And yes, I DID think Hershel Krustofsky)

Adam Elliot is an amazing man. Never mind my groupie-ish predilection for writers, musicians and, especially, artists, he’s just downright brilliant. For a decade he honed his vision of Harvie Krumpet, a 22-minute claymation film bearing his hallmark lumpen grey figures (somewhere between Wallace and Grampa Simpson). He made a series of short films (each one espousing themes generally not considered the domain of animation, such as disability and death) and finally worked up to his magnum opus, the result of 14 months of painstaking work.

Winner of the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, Harvie Krumpet is a wonderfully funny, moving and intensely inventive animation. Using the freedom that animation allows to manipulate the audience and yet sticking to clearly realistic principles, Harvie makes the most of this simple tale of bad luck and learning to live with it. As such there’s everything from snoozing gently in an armchair at a retirement home to delusional Busby Berkeley routines featuring little old men in wheelchairs.

And Harvie pulls no punches. Other than dealing sensitively with Harvie’s Tourette’s, Elliot doesn’t flinch from including a whole range of wonderfully diverse characters, right down to Harvie’s adopted daughter, a beaming and successful Thalidomide girl called Ruby, who’s designed to make the audience fall in love with her. And along with these bright and hopeful messages, all the themes of the more frightening side of human nature are there too: loneliness, bereavement, death.

And then there’s the nudity.

One of Harvie Krumpet’s most appealing features is that fakt (sic) that it’s so damnably hilarious. From the “fakts” that Harvie’s mother teaches him to gather, to a definitively chuckle-inducing shot of a drunk, nudist Harvie with only a tiny knitted finger puppet preserving his modesty, this is one funny little film. I first saw it on a plane to Toronto, and laughed out loud so many times that my cousin, sitting next to me, started to give me strange looks… Harvie discovers joy in nudity, and there are a number of full-frontal shots, which gave the writer-director-animator some sleepless nights.

The animation is of course a key element here, and it’s absolutely stunning. The simplicity of the figures belies the complexity of their making, and the detailed backdrops are incredibly complex and considered. Listening to the director’s commentary it becomes apparent just how much careful work went into each tiny detail, from wallpaper to colour (“it’s the first time I’ve used blue in a film”). The shuffling grey figures are warmly engaging and likeable, and the precision of expression and carefully monitored use of voice (Harvie says two words, total) prevents them from ever becoming alienated from the viewer. Added to this is careful use of a clever soundtrack (from Pachelbel to Elliot's best mate's drinking song "God Is Better Than Football") which just makes for an excellent film.

The icing on this already delectable cake comes in the use of Australia’s finest, the wonderful Geoffrey Rush as narrator. His gentle and warming voice links all the episodes of Harvie’s life story together beautifully.

As a DVD, Harvie Krumpet is also a very good value production. Including the short films that trace Harvie’s genesis (“Uncle”, “Cousin”, “Brother”, and “Human Behavioural Case Studies Part One”) which I’ve been lucky enough to see on a big screen as part of an animation festival, this is a very interesting line of development to follow. Each film is uniquely warm, funny and very serious, using the freedom of animation to pursue more imaginative courses, and yet sticking to very real relationships and situations.

Adam Elliot’s director’s commentary is also a joy to hear. He gives away a few tantalising details of how things were made (“my mother did all the knitting for the film…”) but not SO much that it ruins the beauty of it. His enthusiasm, pride and that bittersweet sense of climax and anti-climax as a decade’s work comes to fruition are all evident, and he’s a warm and honest host (“I dunno if that fakt is actually true…”). This is better than a cold making-of feature as it’s less detached from the film; there’s no sense in which you see everything ripped open and taken apart. Harvie is allowed to live and breathe on camera, even while the animation of his one removed testicle is discussed…

Add to that a gallery of character shots (and each character is animated in as much loving and careful detail as Harvie) and a storyboard featurette, and you’re in for a treat. This is only enhanced by the lovely wheel of fortune menu animation.

Certificate 12 for references to sex, death and “natural nudity”, and a mere 22-minutes in length, Harvie Krumpet is a highly recommended, lovely and unique piece of animation.

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them…

And then there are others…”

As a hymn to everyman, there can be no better.

Alex
xxx
 

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