Street of Crocodiles

Surrealist stop-motion puppetry is virtually bound to be interesting on some superficial level. The creepy quasi-organic imagery is serious eye-candy. Other than that, Street of Crocodiles is just unintelligable. A message displayed at the end purports to decode the 20 minutes of bored gawking the viewer will have undergone, and much predictably, it was all a cynical allegory about the evil that is modern urban society. Gee thanks, interpretive postscript! I get it now! Boy do I feel stupid!

Take your average Tool music video, remove the annoying music, and there you are. Obviously influential for it's time, but too artsy in all the wrong ways. I know it inspired Gilliam and others, but for fucks sake: Lighten up Quays, and figure out what you want to actually tell the world.

A lot of screwing around

The cinematography is very cohesive, perhaps the best thing about the entire film. I particularly liked a couple of tracking shots down the dusty, half-dead streets, a chance to take in the environment and smell the decay. Great technical skill, but such an abstract that I was left with an idea, a glimpse, but without an emotion, without any lingering touch.

One of the best stop-motions I've seen. Even if you feel it is too abstract, you have to admit that this is one of the most cinematic stop-motions. Its sense of mood, light, and fluid movement is absolutely genius. I was thankful for the message at the end that helped shed a little light on the film, although I didn't mind imbuing the short with my own personal meanings.

Akin to Svankmajer, but darker and hugely influencial to mordern neo-gothic aspirations in film/animation and what not. For fans of Nightmare bf Christmas but with a penchant for something darker. Also, anyone into Giger might want to check this out.

Just read the story by Bruno Schulz.

The animation and the music are the clear stars here. I didn't love it as much as I would have liked, simply because it couldn't grab me emotionally, but that doesn't mean that the imagery on screen wasn't always interesting to look at, at least.

A little bit too creepy for me tbh. Very interesting tho and obviously looks beautiful

Nightmare fuel for weeks. Its symbolism is only too obvious once its denouement is finally realized, but it's still a mesmerizing piece of work that is as sinister as it is aesthetically revolutionary.

i don't get it. i liked the animation. i didn't appreciate the pretentious explanation.

Perhaps what this shows more than anything is how difficult it is for me to become interested in animation, even when it is of high quality, even when the atmosphere is nightmarish, and even when it purports to convey significance.

Surreal and brilliant, even though I typically prefer Svankmajer's work to this.

From a simple technical point of view it's hard not to be stunned by the Quay's masterpiece. The animation, movement, score and lighting are phenomenal. "Street of Crocodiles" is certainly an immersive and disturbing experience. That said, on an emotional and symbolic level this piece didn't connect with me on any great level, although its themes become perfectly clear with its end message. Undeniably beautiful.

Best stop motion movie ever?

Beautiful and creative animation, there's no doubt about that. I have to admit my disappointment, however, that the film utterly failed to connect with me whether it be emotionally, intellectually or viscerally. Maybe some other time I'll watch it and see what I was missing but as of now it was a hollow experience where I couldn't even take pleasure in admiring its unique beauty.

Beauty in motion.

Possibly the most beautiful and style defining movie, I've seen in my adult life

Cool short.

Brilliant, disturbing surreal animation from the Brothers Quay.