Harlekin (1931)
*** (out of 4)
This twenty-five minute animation film from director Lotte Reiniger is certainly a real treat for the eyes. The animation is done via silhouette and the use of stop-motion and the story is about lover who meet, fall in love, struggle and we see their love blossom over a period of struggles. I'm not going to spoil what happens in the movie but I must say that I was quite shocked to see how well-detailed the actual plot was. With that said, there's no question that the main reason to watch this is for the wonderful look of the picture. I've seen a lot of silhouette films and I must say that most of them are hard to connect to but that's certainly not the case here. Reiniger manages to pull you directly into the story as well as make you feel for the characters. It really does seem and feel as if you're watching real characters and that's quite an achievement.
