Tale of Tales

Infobox Film
name = Tale of Tales


caption = Little Grey Wolf from "Tale of Tales"
imdb_rating =
director = Yuriy Norshteyn
producer = Soyuzmultfilm
writer = Lyudmila Petrushevskaya Yuriy Norshteyn
starring = Alexander Kalyagin
music = Mikhail Meyerovich Johann Sebastian Bach Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
cinematography = Igor Skidan-Bossin
editing = Nadezhda Treshcheva Natalya Abramova
distributor =
released = 1979 (USSR)
runtime = 29 min 3 sec
country = USSR
language = Russian
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
mpaa_rating =
tv_rating =
amg_id = 1:160008
imdb_id = 0079986

"Tale of Tales" ( _ru. Ска́зка ска́зок, "Skazka skazok") is a 1979 Soviet animated film directed by Yuriy Norshteyn and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. It has won numerous awards, and has been acclaimed by critics and other animators as the greatest animated film of all time. [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1460940,00.html Sweet little mystery | | guardian.co.uk Arts ] ] It has been the subject of a 2005 book by Clare Kitson titled "Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator's Journey".

Plot

"Tale of Tales", like Tarkovsky's "Mirror", attempts to structure itself like a human memory. Memories are not recalled in neat chronological order; instead, they are recalled by the association of one thing with another, which means that any attempt to put memory on film cannot be told like a conventional narrative. The film is thus made up of a series of related sequences whose scenes are interspersed between each other. One of the primary themes involves war, with particular emphasis on the enormous losses the Soviet Union suffered on the Eastern Front during World War II. Several recurring characters and their interactions make up a large part of the film, such as the poet, the little girl and the bull, the little boy and the crows, the dancers and the soldiers, and especially the little grey wolf ( _ru. се́ренький волчо́к, syeryenkiy volchok). Another symbol connecting nearly all of these different themes are green apples (which may symbolize life, hope, or potential).

Yuriy Norshteyn wrote in Iskusstvo Kino magazine that the film is "about simple concepts that give you the strength to live." [ [http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=141447 CONTEXT - This Week in Arts and Ideas from The Moscow Times ] ]

Music and poetry

In addition to the original score composed by Mikhail Meyerovich, this film makes use of several other pieces of music. Excerpts from works by Bach (notably the E flat minor "Prelude" BWV 853 (from "The Well-Tempered Clavier")) and Mozart are present, and the World War II era tango "Weary Sun", written by Jerzy Petersburski, features prominently. However, the most important musical inspiration is the following traditional Russian lullaby, which is included in the film in both instrumental and vocal form.

Cultural influence

The Australian electronic duo "The Presets" paid homage to "Tale of Tales" in the video of their song "Girl and the Sea" from their first album "Beams". [ [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos/lee-lennoxs-girl-and-the-sea Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation » Lee Lennox’s “Girl and the Sea” ] ]

ee also

*History of Russian animation
*Films that have been considered the greatest ever
*List of films based on poems
*List of stop-motion films

References

*cite book
last=Kitson
first=Clare
title=Yuri Norstein and "Tale of Tales": An Animator's Journey
date=2005-06-15
publisher=John Libbey & Co Ltd
language=English
isbn=0861966465

*cite book
last=Kitson
first=Clare
title=Yuri Norstein and "Tale of Tales": An Animator's Journey
year=2005
month=September
publisher=Indiana University Press
language=English
isbn=0253218384

External links

* [http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_film&fid=2842 Tale of Tales] at the Animator.ru
* [http://mag.awn.com/index.php?int_check=yes&ltype=Special%20Features&category2=Production&article_no=2627 Book review of "Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator's Journey"]
* [http://vobzor.com/dvdcompare3.php?id=366 Comparison of various DVDs containing the film (in Russian, but with helpful pictures)]