7/12/02 Eden: Delicious Fruit of Labor
Review by Ryan Ball

Eden is an art film in the most literal sense. The animated feast of color and sound is a gorgeous painting moving at 24 frames per second and the finished result is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Writer/director Andrzej Czeczot is an accomplished graphic artist, painter, illustrator and cartoonist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal. Having made an impressive number of animated shorts and "tapestries," the Polish immigrant has at last realized a life-long dream of completing an animated feature.

Perhaps best described as Fantasia had it been put in the hands of painter Heronimus Bosch, Eden follows folk hero Youzeck as he wanders haphazardly through history and experiences a series of bizarre and enchanting encounters with influential figures from Judeo-Christian doctrine, Greek mythology and pop culture. Rich with metaphor and symbolism, the film engages the mind and challenges our knowledge of the aforementioned elements. It’s also pretty funny.

While we look on Sept. 11 as a world-changing event, Czeczot goes much further back and explores a post-Eden world where good and evil continuously battle for control and sexuality has become confused with the introduction of shame and taboo. Described by the filmmaker as "an ironic fable for mature audiences", Eden presents sex and violence not in exploitative terms, but as two forces that have shaped history and continue to make the world go around. But Eden also celebrates the beauty of creation and the optimism of mankind.

This is an important film for a number of reasons. At a time when most traditional animation is crossing over into the new "tradigital" category, Eden was completely hand drawn on celluloid tape. It took 60 artists five years to complete the 85-minute feature.

Eden also reminds us what animation is all about. It doesn’t strive for realism or try to emulate live-action. Instead, it pulls us into a world that is familiar, yet so fantastic that it can only have been created in ink and paint. At one point, Youzeck is strolling down a road when he removes his own head and dribbles it like a basketball. He then drops it back into place and continues on his way as if this were normal.

There is no dialogue in the film. The story is conveyed through eye-popping imagery, fantastic sound design and a superb musical score by Michal Urbaniak.

You can’t walk into Eden with any expectations. It’s like hitchhiking with no particular place to go. You just hop in the back of the truck and go wherever it takes you. All I can tell you is that it’s a heck of a trip.

Eden has had two screenings in NY and two in LA. There are no further release plans set at this time. Animation Magazine Online will keep you posted.