Faust (1994)

	Raymond O.

2 out of  2  people found this review helpful

This film makes a fatal mistake: it decides not to clearly define its main character. When we first meet him, he's a normal man being pulled into a strange and surreal world. But as soon as he gets there, the movie changes him into an actor playing the role of Faust in a stage play. Later, it decides he's the real Faust. And even later, he becomes a marionette that takes turns being different things; the real Faust, the star of a puppet production of Faust, and a man inside a puppet costume. Jan Svankmajer's genius is here. We get some great things, including surrealism and stom motion animation. But because the main character is undefined, the film is hard to relate to. And Kino gets a slap in the face for this awful DVD edition. Kino shows the film no love at all by making the DVD from an English dubbed videocassette. The image is sub-par, and the original foreign language audio track is not included.

Was this review helpful? Yes   |   No

	James T.

2 out of  3  people found this review helpful

I’m one of the most lenient movie critics of all time but this one completely stinks. This is one of the most boring, weirdest, unintelligible movies I’ve ever seen. This is the kind of movie that makes you wonder who thought this script was worth green lighting and who put the money up to do it? The story of Faust has so much potential and most of the updated versions catch the spirit of the original but not this movie. The life size marionettes used to depict the devil and other characters defies belief, as in, I can’t believe they used this in a movie and expected us to take it seriously.

Was this review helpful? Yes   |   No

	Melissa H.

2 out of  3  people found this review helpful

no clear storytelling, horrible animation, one good animation scene halfway thru that lasted for about four minutes, but was inexplicable. This was bad, really bad... really bad. this is possibly one of the slowest movies i have ever seen. I have never reviewed a film for blockbuster before, but i had to save others from wasting their time.

Was this review helpful? Yes   |   No