Yozhik v tumane (Hedgehog in the Fog), 1975
Lately I've been watching Russian cartoons on YouTube. The Soviet Union produced a lot of strange, avant-garde animation during the 20th century. Some of the shorts were based on fairy tales or aimed at children like the beautiful Hedgehog in the Fog, and some of them were more abstract and flat out weird like the repetitive Bolero:
"Every director works as an artist for other directors, who have totally different manners and tastes, in between the shoots of his own films. This gives Russian animators greater flexibility and more varied skills. Russian animation is also very "handmade"--unusual techniques and textures are discovered overcoming technical difficulties. The result, which cannot be recreated on the state-of-the art equipment, often bewilders animators at international festivals."
-This is an excerpt from this article, which discusses Russian animation at length.
There seems to be something a little off about Soviet cartoons, which is what makes them so interesting. They aren't as comfortable as Western animation, with our Mickey Mouses and Betty Boops. Russian cartoons seem to always whisper an underlying lesson, and they are whimsical but at the same time rather creepy, like each cartoon is a dream that borders on a nightmare. In any case, that little Hedgehog movie blows me away. If you haven't watched it yet, do so now!!
(It's in Russian, but the story is thus: The hedgehog is going to meet his friend the bear cub so they can count stars, and he's taking some marmalade with him. Along the way he sees a horse in the fog, and wonders if it would choke on the fog if it fell asleep. The hedgehog then decides to investigate the fog, and adventure ensues.)
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