Memorable, crazy movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A passage early on shows a child playing with a zoetrope (a pre-camera gadget for simple animations). That foreshadows a wide variety of techniques in this imaginative film, including live action, stop animation, hand-drawn cel animation, and combinations of any two or three. Stop animation evokes Svankmajer's use live actors as animation puppets, as well as use of food. Some macabre, skeletal puppets also bring the Brothers Quay to mind. None of that implies that Leiser's style is at all derivative, however - every scene carries his distinctive imprint, including dramatic imagery around a major, catastrophic incident.After the technique, Leiser's content seems much harder to capture. I found it easy to dislike the ineffectual psychiatrist and to feel for the desperate mother. The twins, however, remained enigmatic to me. They lived as a symbiotic pair in a world governed by beings with huge powers. The nature of their bond and the rules of that world became clear by the end. I don't need to understand every part of a pattern in a movie or the reason for it, but I look to see that there is some pattern somewhere. This time, enough parts came together for me to perceive that a unified whole existed.When logical structure in a movie eludes me, whether or not I understand that structure, I look to the visuals to pull me along. being strong, this movie's imagery has the power. Fans of surrealist animation will find a fair bit to enjoy here, I can say it's a must-have for any personal library.

You've got to hand it to Eric Leiser. It takes creative cajones the size of the Mayo Clinic to take on a subject as tricky as mental illness - or in this case, neurological dysfunction - and keep it from being a preachy, predicable disease of the week kind of weeper. The sparkling independent effort Imagination is anything but a limp Lifetime movie, avoiding all the clichés within this type of narrative while investing the film with a far amount of invention and insight. We've all heard tales of twins and their inexplicable psychic connection, how one sibling senses what the other is feeling and visa versa. Well, Imagination is one of the few films that wants to explore the inner workings of that connection. Using stop motion animation, various post-production techniques, and other storyline supposition, Leiser unlocks the inferred secrets of such biological sameness, and then inserts a somber meditation on fate, religion, love, loss, and family into the mix. This is not a straightforward look at said subjects. Instead, Leiser goes the tone poem route, revising his plot with pictures and proposals. He never fully gives away his motives, and this then becomes one of Imagination's undeniable strengths.

This film may not be for those looking for a popcorn flick but if you like your films to be crazy adventures into new worlds than this is for you. I had trouble following some of the plot points at times but the story, animation and most of all the score are some the coolest stuff I've seen in recent memory. The twin girls in the film were really amazing and kind of freaky at times. The other actors were pretty average except for the doctor who did a decent job in his role. The film was so weird and creative i really can't compare it to anything out there right now accept maybe Pan's Labyrinth. The DVD extras go into how the film was made and has some cool info on the filmmakers who worked on some of the film in Prague. Highly recommended for those who want to try something different!

I was privileged to be able to enjoy this beautifully crafted film, screened at Aarhus Festival of Independent Arts in Denmark.The story begins and revolves around the enigmatic twins, Anna and Sarah, whose parents contact Dr. Reineger to conduct a research regarding visions they see. A big part of the film is animated, mostly with stop-motion technique, by Eric Leiser, which combined with the absolutely terrific atmospheric score by Jeffrey Leiser creates an unique viewing pleasure. These imagination scenes are also often the force that further allows the unfolding of the multi-layered plot.I was amazed by the animation and music alone, but on top of that, director Leiser has also created an enjoyable viewing experience, which I hope will meet many many audience members in the future.Warmly recommended!