Movie: The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

  • Release Date

    1984-06-20

  • Average

    6.8

  • Rating:

    3.4 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    No Language
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Relic
61%

Relic(en)

2020-07-03

When elderly mother Edna inexplicably vanishes, her daughter rushes to the family's decaying home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence.

Street of Crocodiles
65%

Street of Crocodiles(en)

1986-07-01

A puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.

Slate
50%

Slate(pl)

1976-01-01

A short making-of from the set of Kieslowski's feature film "Blizna", which uses a lot the word "Action!" and the slate.

This Unnameable Little Broom
61%

This Unnameable Little Broom(en)

1985-01-01

Stop-motion animated short film in which a puppet on a trike captures a puppet bird-man.

Commando
67%

Commando(en)

1985-10-03

John Matrix, the former leader of a special commando strike force that always got the toughest jobs done, is forced back into action when his young daughter is kidnapped. To find her, Matrix has to fight his way through an array of punks, killers, one of his former commandos, and a fully equipped private army. With the help of a feisty stewardess and an old friend, Matrix has only a few hours to overcome his greatest challenge: finding his daughter before she's killed.

Darkland: The Return
64%

Darkland: The Return(da)

2023-04-13

Seven years ago, Zaid went to war against the Copenhagen underworld to avenge his dead brother. His identity as a respected doctor of cardiology and life as a family man is but a fading dream, and in prison Zaid suffers the loss of his son Noah, whom he barely knows. When a police agent approaches Zaid and offers him a deal to be released in exchange for infiltrating the Copenhagen underworld, he sees his chance to reclaim the remnants of the family life he left behind. But everything has a price, and Zaid realizes that he has now seriously endangered his son's life. After all, once you become part of the underworld, is there any way out?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
81%

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri(en)

2017-12-01

After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
65%

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark(en)

2019-08-08

Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, Halloween night, 1968. After playing a joke on a school bully, Stella and her friends decide to sneak into a supposedly haunted house that once belonged to the powerful Bellows family, unleashing dark forces that they will be unable to control.

A Trip to the Moon
79%

A Trip to the Moon(fr)

1902-06-15

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.

American Psycho
74%

American Psycho(en)

2000-04-13

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Avatar
76%

Avatar(en)

2009-12-15

In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.

A Man Called Otto
78%

A Man Called Otto(en)

2022-12-28

When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.

The Conjuring
75%

The Conjuring(en)

2013-07-18

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most terrifying case of their lives.

Godzilla Minus One
76%

Godzilla Minus One(ja)

2023-11-03

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

John and the Hole
53%

John and the Hole(en)

2021-08-06

While exploring the neighboring woods, 13-year-old John discovers an unfinished bunker — a deep hole in the ground. Seemingly without provocation, he drugs his affluent parents and older sister and drags their unconscious bodies into the bunker, where he holds them captive. As they anxiously wait for John to free them from the hole, the boy returns home, where he can finally do what he wants.

Full Metal Jacket
81%

Full Metal Jacket(en)

1987-06-26

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Blade Runner 2049
76%

Blade Runner 2049(en)

2017-10-04

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Mad Max: Fury Road
76%

Mad Max: Fury Road(en)

2015-05-13

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.

Mickey 17
69%

Mickey 17(en)

2025-02-28

Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

Thor: Love and Thunder
64%

Thor: Love and Thunder(en)

2022-07-06

After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor Odinson enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

Similar Movies

The Pop Show
60%

The Pop Show(en)

1966-01-01

A Pop Art extravaganza by Fred Mogubgub from the late-1960s, innovative in the use of the quick cut, this film is a parade of pop icons of its time. Features a pre-Playboy, pre-N. O. W. Gloria Steinem.

Apocalypsis
63%

Apocalypsis(en)

2018-03-17

Set in a parallel universe entering a black hole, a woman reading the book of Revelation has visions of regeneration during Anthropocene.

Motor Tour
60%

Motor Tour(hu)

1982-01-01

Animated hijinks of a man whose car just will not start, no matter what he does.

Urs
70%

Urs(en)

2009-05-06

For many years, Urs has had to look after his aging mother. But now he sets out for a dangerous journey: He carries his mother up a mountain to find a better place for both of them. But she wants to stay at home.

Vincent
79%

Vincent(en)

1982-10-01

Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams that annoy his mother.

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
67%

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom(en)

1953-11-10

Professor Owl gives a lecture on the evolution of Western musical instruments, starting with the advent of rudimentary brass, woodwind, string and percussion instruments by ancient cave dwellers at the dawn of history.

The Lion and the Song
66%

The Lion and the Song(cs)

1959-11-27

A musician is playing his music to some animals, when a hungry lion shows up.

Negative Space
74%

Negative Space(en)

2017-06-12

Even though Sam's father is hardly ever home because he is often away on business trips, he is able to connect with his son by teaching him how to pack a suitcase.

The Beautiful Leukanida
63%

The Beautiful Leukanida(ru)

1912-04-25

Two insects fight over the hand of a beautiful lady.

The Old Man Movie
67%

The Old Man Movie(et)

2019-09-27

An outrageous road movie about The Old Man and his grandkids in a 24 hour race against time to stop a milky madman hell bent on killing his prized cow to save the world.

Lost and Found
78%

Lost and Found(en)

2008-12-24

A magical tale of friendship and loneliness, which tells the story of a little boy who one day finds a penguin on his doorstep. Although at first he is unsure what to do, the boy becomes determined to help the penguin find his way back home... even if that means rowing all the way to the South Pole!

Prelude
0%

Prelude(en)

2001-10-30

first stop motion animation puppet film by Eric Leiser completed in 2001. The film is a visual poem on Christ's command for believers to: deny self, pick up the cross daily and follow after Him. Matthew 16:24

Homunculus
60%

Homunculus(cs)

1984-01-01

A short film by the Czech animator Vaclav Mergl.

Wasteland
79%

Wasteland(en)

2019-08-24

Wasteland is a five-part anthology film that deals with isolation, mental illness, and the subjectivity of reality. Each of the five parts can be watched individually, but when viewed in sequence, each story brings out a more interesting and distinct context to its respective pieces.

She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead
100%

She Is Us: The Story of Judge Songhai Armstead(en)

SHE IS US: THE STORY OF JUDGE SONGHAI ARMSTEAD is an animated film that chronicles the extraordinary story of social justice warrior Songhai Armstead who was system impacted, faced systemic obstacles, and found purpose in empowering others. After a challenging childhood in foster care, Songhai embarks on a remarkable journey that shows the importance of creating opportunities. The film is a production of The Righteous Conversations Project and Second Nurture, a non-profit organization that mobilizes communities to support foster families and help children thrive. She is Us was directed by Samara Hutman & C. Lily Ericsson and animated by an extraordinary team of young people who know the potential of art and story to shape our world.

Gone Nutty
70%

Gone Nutty(en)

2002-10-21

Scrat tries to finish his rather large collection of acorns when things start going nutty.

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
65%

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb(en)

1993-12-10

A boy born the size of a small doll is kidnapped by a genetic lab and must find a way back to his father in this inventive adventure filmed using stop motion animation techniques.

Chicken Run
68%

Chicken Run(en)

2000-06-23

The creators of Wallace & Gromit bring you an exciting and original story about a group of chickens determined to fly the coop–even if they can’t fly! It’s hardly poultry in motion when Rocky attempts to teach Ginger and her feathered friends to fly…but, with teamwork, determination and a little bit o’ cluck, the fearless flock plots one last attempt in a spectacular bid for freedom.

Just Keep Breathing
0%

Just Keep Breathing(en)

2023-08-07

Victor is stuck in a low-budget airliner next to a shamelessly intrusive stranger. The crackling candy wrapper, the smacking of the lips, oh, he thinks, just give me a break. No, he doesn't want candy, thank you very much. Victor isn't hungry. But there's no escape, thirty-five thousand feet in the air. So, just keep breathing.

The Kindly Lion
55%

The Kindly Lion(ja)

1970-03-21

This is an animated version of Yanase Takashi's picture book featuring the friendship between a mother dog, Muku-muku, who lost her puppy, and the baby lion Buru-buru, who lost her mother.