When seeing a animation viewing challenge pop up,one of the first titles which topped my "Must watch" list was auteur director Seijun Suzuki's Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon (1985-also reviewed.) Whilst getting hold of the Suzuki,I remembered that I had a unplayed Blu of fellow auteur film maker Walerian Borowczyk's lone animated feature,leading to me meeting the Kabal's.

View on the film:

The set-piece in their "Shorts and Animation" collection of his works, Arrow present a excellent transfer,with the print presenting the animation cleanly,whilst retaining a rough film grain,and the smooth soundtrack bellowing out.

Breaking away from shorts by opening his feature film debut with the 4th wall breaking exchange of him being filmed in live action,talking to the animated Mrs. Kabal, production designer/writer/directing auteur Walerian Borowczyk outlines what was to come in his live action works, with "Boro" giving the background animation a bare minimalism which would be continued in the magnificent live action Blanche (1971-also reviewed.)

Previously having made a large number of animated shorts before this, Boro places everything he had been building towards in this 80 minute trip, with Boro bouncing the Kabal's between his recurring abstract, grotesque surrealism, and a wickedly playful, anything goes comedic mood.

Drawn in thick felt tip,Borowczyk focuses on Mr. Kabal going on a avant-garde voyage into the heart of Mrs. Kabal's (women as the centre of the film being a major recurring theme of Boro's) which flies into a rough, inventive mix of cut-out,and hand-drawn animation, heightened by scrambled sound effects and live action inserts.

Going on a jolly trip with the couple, the screenplay by Boro draws the line at a cynical presentation of marriage which would continue across his credits, as Mr. Kabal uses binoculars to get a cheeky glimpse at live action ladies, whilst keeping one eye on the dominant, iron fist of Mrs. Kabal.

This simply-drawn, nightmarish and often hilarious film was Polish director Walerian Borowczyk's first full-length feature and the last he would do using animation. It tells the simple story of a voyeuristic, diminutive husband and his iron-fisted wife, as they spend what appears to be a holiday in a desolate land filled with pesky butterflies and strange beasts. It is ultimately Borowczyk's idea of the mundaneness and repetitiveness of marriage, played out in a playful yet sometimes unnerving way.

Mrs. Kabal is a terrifying creation - well-endowed and dominant, speaking in a bizarre fashion that sounds like a human voice filtered through a blender. Mr. Kabal is the sympathetic one - running around like a headless chicken and obeying his wife's every need, even at one point entering her body to rid it of some unwanted butterflies. Every now and then he runs off to spy with his binoculars, always finding a semi-naked beauty much to the annoyance of an ever-present old man, who waves his fist in anger.

Not much is going on here in terms of narrative, and this causes the film to feel longer than it should be. There's only so many visual gags you can pull of with the omnipresent butterflies, who routinely fly into things and get on Mrs. Kabal's nerves. But for the most part, this is very funny stuff, and although the animation is crude, there is a surrealist quality to it all. Borowczyk would go on to make many highly-acclaimed and controversial live-action features after this, so this is a gentle introduction into the mind of the Polish auteur, and a cynical portrayal of the sanctity of marriage.

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This is perhaps one of the funnies, yet most bizarre movies I have ever seen. I am in awe. Heavily surreal. Every scene has so much creative power and craziness you just can't avoid being fascinated by it.

There's a story too of course, but I'm not sure I'd dare to try and explain it.. It was all so confusing. Well, there's Mrs. Kabal.. a funny old lady which seems to think she's something important(like the old lady in Sunset Blv. or something..) And there's butterflies, and Mr. Kabal, and a huge house.. and these strangelooking creatures.. and so much details. Its so funny. At one point Mr. Kabal tries to puncture a hole in Mrs. Kabals huge chest, and instead of it shrinking.. the whole woman grows into a giant! And then Mr. Kabal finds the hole in her stomach and comes into this huge building inside her with stairs, windows and stuff..

And then Mrs. Kabal was shouting at him to do tasks in there.

It was all pretty weird to follow. But there was a story going on.

See this if you get the chance!