Reviews

Based loosely on the life of Oskar Kokoschka, this is an excitingly crafted hybrid of animation styles depicting his lively relationship with his muse and his time fighting on the front during the Great War. The drawings range from broad brush strokes of stirring effect through to a far more abstract series of depictions that, accompanied by a powerful classical score, allow the timelines of the two phases of his life to dart around enthusiastically and sometimes quite graphically amidst a rapid fire battering for our eyes. I’m sure I saw a peacock in amongst the war casualties, the railway carriages and the sex. Maybe another bird didn’t quite deserve the denouement, but this is innovative and creative artistry and well worth five minutes.