Reflective Encounters

“A curious mix of philosophical ponderings and sight gags, Prince in a Pastry Shop stands out as a film that invites visual exploration from the viewer, populating many of its shots with minute details. Director Katarzyna Agopsowicz has created an elaborate world of graphite sketches come to life through a combination of full and rigged 2D animation approaches, seamlessly interwoven with occasional CG. Peppered with splashes of colour, the largely grayscale universe is centered around the titular Prince who, hung up on notions of the meaning of happiness, meets with his comparatively carefree companion over tea to put the world to rights.

Their surroundings perpetually morph around them in a manner that brings to mind Lewis Carroll, allowing for a rich diversity of animation approaches, sensibilities and scenarios that all manage to seamlessly blend into one another. Particularly impressive is the appealingly stylised and often quite complex character animation rendered with incredible detail that manages to coexist harmoniously alongside more simplistic approaches reminiscent of Walerian Borowczyk.

The back and forth between the two main characters lends the film an almost theatrical quality, as though it could have been adapted from a conceptually avant-garde stage play. Most importantly it succeeds in using animation not for its own sake but as a truly limitless medium.”

— Ben Mitchell