Synopsis
The tragic medieval tale of a man of inhuman strength, fierce temper and a desire for noble knighthood. While on the run as a murderer, he finds new life as a knight, only to face disillusionment, the horrors of war and ugly human vices.
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Heroic Times
Director
Producer
Writer
Cinematography
Composer
Studios
Country
Language
Alternative Titles
Les Temps Héroïques, 英雄时代
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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Hungary
Releases by Country
Hungary
30 Aug 1984
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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"Heroic Times" is a 1984 animated feature directed by József Gémes. A product of Hungary, the film is a stoic and epic tale of chivalry, based upon a series of poems from the mid to late 1800's entitled the "Todi trilogy" by János Arany. All this in turn is based upon a 13th century fabled character, Miklós Toldi, who is subjectively entrenched deep within Hungarian lore. Knowing minimal about the character, if found the respective old-world retelling to be interesting in form, but also possibly needing a few watches to really connect with the entirety of the story. Most of this was due to a slow pacing respective of things, which is fine but required me to work harder with…
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1st József Gémes
In which a knight's decline into despair mirrors the end of the chivalric age, as cannons and guns render the bloody art of war mechanical. Heroic Times feels like an animated Lancelot du Lac, but it's also magisterially beautiful, designed to resemble a series of animated oil paintings that glimmer with gorgeous colour and move with trembling, expressive brushstroke. Soundtracked to aggressive orchestral brass, this is a beautifully melancholy piece of historical pageantry and a must for those who like their animation textured and organic.
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Tremendously brutal and hauntingly brilliant. The story of a man coming to terms with his place in this filthy twisted world of paintings and orchestral music. Where has this been my whole life?
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A knight's tale. Told in oil paintings. Often looks as if several historical paintings have been fused together by AI. Or as if an AI has brought individual elements to life. And again and again like a collage of large paintings, over which the camera slowly moves to zoom in or out at certain points. Accompanied by a deep, sonorous narrator's voice and a score that is as thickly applied as the color of the individual works of art on display.
Reminded me of Ralph Bakshi at times, but despite its short running time of 80 minutes, it was unable to captivate me over the full distance. It was just a little too stoic, distanced and too much narrated rather…
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I wasn't as enamored of this as I was hoping, or as I have been of other Deaf Crocodile releases. Undoubtedly, it is a masterful work of art, literally oil paintings come to life in a unique form of animation. And it has a fittingly regal orchestral score that punctuates the action beautifully. But the story of the rise and fall of a knight left me cold somehow. It felt stodgy and slow and unengaging. And the narration, in Hungarian, was monotonous and sleep-inducing. As a purely visual experience, I would rate it a bit higher, though even that has some drawbacks, since much of the animation is recycled repeatedly throughout the film to the point of distraction. But as a total package, it was disappointing and left me wanting something more.
• Size Matters! — My Movie Collection (or, I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours…)
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Criminally under-seen; an extraordinary, artistic stroke of haunting beauty.
I am taken aback at the mere existence of this film. My entire viewing experience was fully distracted by my sheer disbelief. This a true artistic feat. What makes this so special is the fact that it doesn’t feel like a film at all. It is an encapsulation of what we wish paintings to do: move.
I found myself lost; never knowing whether if what i was seeing was truly animated, or just a simple result of the figurative, and literal, moving strokes across my screen.
It breathes its knightly tale seamlessly; each brush stroke swung with haste, plastering the very story we see done with a sword. A life was painted before me, one that never failed to develop before the paint was to dry.
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A visual spectacle from Hungary
Minimalist visual story combined with beautiful painted visuals. It’s a simple but effective story of a knight who wants glory and honor, but finds it’s not as righteous as he thought it would be and is left behind as a relic of a bygone age.
They do have to reuse some footage here and there, but the animation is gorgeous the whole way through it isn’t a huge deal.
If you can grab the Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile and Vinegar Syndrome I recommend it -
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A thunder perfect film. A literally unparalleled visual style with an intense and penetrating philosophy. Simultaneously holding a simmering disgust and red hot yearning for the age of heroic times. Is the age of honor gone for ever? Did it ever exist? What are we left with when the symbols fade?
The existence and delayed appreciation for this magisterial vision of humanity just shows you how desiccated and useless the world of film academia is. Drop out of film school kids, those people are the enemy of art and life.
I will watch this many more time.
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Part animated storybook, oil painting, expressionistic epic, 100% goated. There are so many images that go incredibly hard. The story is very good and would love to see it used again.
I don't think this movie will work for everyone due to the style, but I think it is perfect.
Immediately took me back to my days of playing Conqueror A.D. 1086 on the family PC. I was obsessed with being a knight, managing my kingdom, jousting for romance, and sieging castles. Looking back it's amazing all the game could do at the time.
Thanks Bat n Spider for getting this into my eyeballs!