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Blood Tea and Red String Movie Review

Blood Tea and Red String is a 2006 stop-motion animated dark fantasy film directed by Christiane Cegavske. It’s a disturbing and trippy, but highly authentic viewing experience.

The movie is about the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over one doll. The mice commissioned the Oak Dwellers to create a beautiful doll for them. When she is complete, the creatures fall in love with her and refuse to give her up. Resorting to thievery the mice abscond with her in the middle of the night. The creatures then journey through the mystical land to reclaim their love while the mice descend into debauchery as they become drunk on blood tea.

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Yes, this is an insane film, but it mostly works as you end up admiring the sheer originality on display. While I personally found the film too grotesque and horrific, especially that blood tea sequence that almost played out as ritualistic, you have to admire the authenticity of those scenes as the movie is very much for adults who like animation and certainly not for kids.

The movie has no dialogue whatsoever and its silent approach worked for the most part as the plot is actually quite simple and not that difficult to follow. The film is very short, but thus well edited and paced. The fantastical elements were my favorite, especially that frog sorcerer thing. The movie is so intriguing in its mythology and its world building.

However, because it is silent and short, it ends up not developing these creatures all that well. They are just there for the plot to happen to them, not the other way around, which is always a problem to me. The mice basically look like the white rabbit from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and they are quite memorable while the creatures are also interesting, but again their development is lacking.

Blood Tea and Red String is reminiscent of the works of Jan Svankmajer as the director Christiane Cegavske clearly channels his vision here, but still she makes it her own. The animation is definitely limited, but still wonderful as the creature designs and especially their clothing and the use of the blood and other fluids were impressive. This world very much felt lived in, not least because of its charming, yet creepy aesthetic. The score is also quite effective.

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