So what is Heaven and Earth Magic? It is an avant-garde independent feature created with cutout animation. There isn't much of an identifiable plot here, but there is one apparently. Director Harry Everett Smith describes something of a sequence of events, but really, none of that really matters. There's something about a watermelon and a dog, a woman and then a skeleton and just a bunch of random things put together that somewhat loosely transition into each other, which is more like things appear and disappear as the scene morphs into another. A lot of what happens reminds me of those animated sequences in Monty Python's Flying Circus, I really would not be surprised if Terry Gilliam took heavy inspiration from this movie.
The cutout animation is very interesting, a lot of it also reminds me of Jan Švankmajer's work. Somethings move smoothly, others move much more choppily, and it's not really that distracting. I think the only complaint I have about the visual style is that sometimes it is very difficult to really see what is going on. I don't know if it's the camera or what background was used or the images he chose, but the dark areas are too dark and can lead to some of the images becoming blended with the solid black background. This movie is also in black and white, and I always confuse it for a movie from the 1950s, not that black and white cinema completely died out in the 1960s, but it's around here that I start believing that black and white becomes more of a choice for directors rather than what was most common, I dunno this movie's look just gives me vibes of the 1950s, but I guess that says more about me than this movie.
The audio is a mix of sound effects, bell rings, idle banter, animal noises, dripping sounds, sloshing noises, carnival barking, there's no real spoken dialogue. This isn't as egregious as something like... Revolution 9 by The Beatles, the most uncomfortable musical experience I've ever had, but I can see how it might make some viewers uneasy. I don't think it's too overly stimulating though, like I would mostly have to pause the movie more because of just how weird this movie is, not really how much noise was happening. It's not at the same level as the Raggedy Ann and Andy Movie, but depending on your noise sensitivity, what noises specifically overstimulate you, or just how well you handle random noises with no real rhythm, it may be a bit much. I'd recommend watching the first few minutes, seeing how you handle it and continuing from there if you're up for it. I wasn't too over-stimulated by this movie, but I am aware I don't speak for everyone.
I have always been of the belief that art is, more than anything else, a form of communication. Sometimes that thing your saying can be as simple as "The sky is pretty at night", or maybe it's complex. I do have to wonder what the purpose of Heaven and Earth Magic really is. Is it just an experiment in the odd and bizarre? Does it say something about cinema or animation? The movie wasn't even initially titled "Heaven and Earth Magic", so what is the title in reference too? Sadly, Harry Smith passed away in 1991 and the person who gave the movie it's more known title, Jonas Mekas, passed away in 2019, but the truth is we probably wouldn't get straight answers from them anyway. This is definitely a great movie to speculate about, but is it a good movie in and of itself?
The problem with art films is that they are made for a very specific audience, i.e. not your average movie goer. So they can be a fun little adventure for some people to take off the beat and path, but for most people it's only going to that, something different. I am not into art film, again my whole view of art is that it is a form of communication, but I can't say this movie is "bad", not because I really like it, but more because it kind of defies labels of quality. I really do have to wonder how much this influenced animators like Terry Gilliam or Jan Švankmajer, like this had to have been influential in its own little sphere, your favourite animator's favourite animation sort of. So, I guess I have to fall back on my standards of "Do I like it?" and "Do I Recommend it?". In answer to the first question... I guess? This isn't a Ruby Gillman situation where I want to like it but can't help but be critical of it, it's more of a "This isn't my cup of tea so I don't even know how I feel about it". That being said, at no point did I ever want to turn this movie off out of boredom or disdain, it was more of a "I reached my limit for this type of thing and need a break", which does also sort of answer the second question.
This is another movie I have to give a Slight Recommendation to under the condition that I know it will not be for everyone, granted it's only just over an hour in run-time so if you can stomach weird art-film stuff, it's not too long, and if it sounds like something you'd be interested it, you can find a copy on YouTube or their might be a DVD available somewhere, though the Harry Smith Archives site priced it at fifty dollars so maybe stick yo YouTube. To be fair, the movie is also in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, and for what it's worth, I will definitely never forget about this movie, so I guess I do have to recommend it on some level, but only slightly.
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