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Organ
Cranker Press Clippings
"Jon Foulk has produced a highly original work of great charm
and gentle humor, brilliantly executed in simple black and white.
The basic premise draws on the traditional theme of the street
vendor who attracts attention to his lot of mechanical toys by
playing an instrument such as a hand organ... In Foulk's film,
the organ grinder has become the organ itself and the toys, humorously
baptized Schlomos
... live within the organ and go out on call to perform their
dances as required. Such toys being rather fragile things, the
breakage rate is high. However, the Schlomos, as opposed to tin
soldiers or spring-wound mice, are endowed with human feelings
of respect and compassion. In a touchingly tender final sequence,
they methodically and expertly retrieve the remains of their fallen
comrade. With the Schlomos safely back within their repository,
the film ends with the blink of the remaining eye of the unfortunate
victim, leaving some hope for his eventual resurrection. The character
design of the Schlomos is highly original: they consist of loosely
joined blocks, cones, spindles, balls and wheels, all of which
work together in a delightfully implausible way. The animation
is superb, showing a complete mastery of the classical techniques
of anticipation, follow-through, squash and stretch, but never
in exaggeration. Backgrounds are inexistent, yet the idea of space
is perfectly conveyed. The sound track, in addition to the requisite
organ music, contains some delightful effects and a succinct,
but completely appropriate narration, restricted to the beginning
sequence."
--
Gilbert Taggert (Victoria Independent Film Festival 1999)
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"
... there were more than a few animated films that walked, ran,
or shuffled on the dark side. In the Organ Cranker by Jon Foulk,
an organ-grinder and little mechanical monkeys are well-drawn
boxy constructs-in-progress that inhabit a precipitous and borderless
white-paper landscape. Their demolition derby hurlings, collisions
and damages are as affectionate as those of Itchy and Scratchy,
the heart of darkness within The Simpsons."
--
Tony Reveaux, 42nd San Francisco Int'l Film Festival
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"A forced dance to the end of time is approached in Organ Cranker,
an accomplished animated short by director Jon Foulk. Using very
intense, radiating fine pencil drawings, the pitiful fate of the
schlomos forced out to entertain the organ cranker is made all
that more surreal. The poor little guys: they are harmless in
their present state, but are forced to perform and in return jerked
limb from limb. Knowing they are next, the other schlomos retrieve
their mate and return his pieces to the organ. Darkness falls,
with neither knowing who will be next. The fine animation accentuates
the fine line being tread between humor and sadness, with irony
and inevitability winning out."
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David Sarich: Mad Dash Films (Zoie Film Festival 1999)
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"A rather obtuse story."
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anonymous jury member (Canadian Int'l Film Festival 1999)
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![[windupschlomo]](zi/schlomo_windup.gif)
