Tiki Tiki

Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"5.0

Really a glorious oddball film, I was completely glued to this film its whole runtime. It's only about 70 mins, so full admitting that does make it easy, but the concept and delivery could have easily kept my attention longer. Made by the same directors that would later go on to make "Heavy Metal" (1981), "Tiki Tiki" begins with a wonderous delivery of late 60's/early 70's s psychedelic and experimental animation with a subplot of making a movie. It is that point in the film when some live action elements are intermingled, all very much from romanticized and over-the-top Soviet fantasy cinema. I had to look up the title and it appears its from a film called "Aybolit-66" (1966) but with comedic over-dubbing. While the visuals in both mediums are excellent, the restoration from Canadian International Pictures is outstanding and incredibly clean. Crystal clear in both formulations, and as the visual examples jump back and forth, its a constant changing feast for the eyes. The final cherry on top of it all goes back to one of the voice actors in the film, the all too familiar voice of Jean Shepherd. I can't help but hear Shepherd's voice as a a warm fuzzy blanket for my repetitious viewings of "A Christmas Story" (1983). So with it all being said, if you ever wanted "Heavy Metal", "A Christmas Story", and something that feels a bit like it was directed by Aleksandr Ptushko thrown together in a blender, this is your ticket.

Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸4.0

New 4K restorationNot even sure how to describe something like this. You can't really sell it to kids, because they'll be confused the whole way through, especially if you jump between animated scenes and whatever happens next. Alas, marketing it to adults probably would make even less sense, as it doesn't really have any strict logic to apply to itself. And yet, you just can't help but greatly admire the fact that it exists in this form. The animation looks particularly scrappy, but in a way that I find deeply charming, given the era in which it was made. It also happens to be the perfect way to create some semblance of narrative flow, at least because we're supposedly watching a movie about storytelling.At a certain point, it's just all about making things up as you go along – so how else can you react to whatever's happening in front of you? Potterton's blend of mediums, from animation to the overdubbed footage from a Russian children's film only makes this case clearer. Sometimes, it's all about taking what already exists and then doing absolutely anything you can, and just going along with it. That's the best way I can describe Tiki Tiki for you, let alone just how much fun it is to watch something like this on the big screen.

Brian Saur3.5

Glad to finally be able to see this trippy bit of weirdness from the director of HEAVY METAL. The animated sequences evoke YELLOW SUBMARINE, but the overall vibe feels closer to Bakshi or TWICE UPON A TIME. The film mixes those animated segments with footage from a 1966 Soviet fantasy film, reworking it into something that borders on nonsensical—but in that wonderfully offbeat, late-'60s/early-'70s psychedelic way that really works for me. Features the grown up voice of Ralphy from A CHRISTMAS STORY (author Jean Shepherd) as a monkey Studio head. New 4K restoration via the new Canadian International Pictures Blu-ray looks fantastic! vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/canadian-international-pictures/products/tiki-tikiThis review by critic Simon Abrams sums it up pretty well too: https://letterboxd.com/simonsaybrams/film/tiki-tiki/