{{EngvarB|date=May 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Otesánek | image = Otesánek poster.png | caption = Czechoslovak theatrical release poster | director = Jan Švankmajer | writer = Jan Švankmajer | producer = Keith Griffiths<br/>Jaromir Kallista<br/>Jan Švankmajer | starring = Veronika Žilková<br/>Jan Hartl<br/>Kristina Adamcová | cinematography = Juraj Galvánek | editing = Marie Zemanova | music = Ivo Spalj (sounds) <br /> Carl Maria von Weber (musical score) | studio = Athanor<br />Barrandov Biografia<br />FilmFour<br />Illumination Films<br />The Czech Republic State Fund for Support and Development of Cinematography | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures (Czech Republic)<br/>Zeitgeist Films (USA) | released = {{film date|df=y|2000|09|07|VFF|2001|01|25|Czech Republic|2001|10|26|UK}} | runtime = 132 minutes | country = Czech Republic<br/>United Kingdom | language = Czech | budget = }} '''''Little Otik''''' ({{langx|cs|'''Otesánek'''}}), also known as '''''Greedy Guts''''', is a 2000 surreal dark comedy horror film by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová. Based on the folktale Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben, the film is a comedic live action, stop motion-animated feature film set mainly in an apartment building in the Czech Republic.<ref name="TBB">{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Alfred|title=The Bohemian Body|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2007|page=xi|chapter=Preface|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bcwlVBBImsoC&pg=PP17 |isbn=978-0-299-22280-2}}</ref>
The film uses the Overture to ''Der Freischütz'' (1821) by Carl Maria von Weber as the score.
==Plot== Karel Horák (Jan Hartl) and Božena Horáková (Veronika Žilková) are a childless couple and for medical reasons are doomed to remain so. While on vacation at a house in the country with their neighbors, the Stadlers, Karel decides to buy the house at the suggestion of Mr. Stadler. When he is fixing up the house, he digs up a tree stump that looks vaguely like a baby. He spends the rest of the evening cleaning it up and then presents it to his wife. She names the stump Otík and starts to treat it like a real baby. She then works out a plan to fake her pregnancy, and becoming more and more impatient, she speeds up the process and 'gives birth' one month early.
Otík comes alive and has an insatiable appetite. Alžbětka (Kristina Adamcová), the Stadlers’ daughter, has been suspicious all along, and when she reads the fairy tale about Otesánek, the truth becomes clear to her. Meanwhile, little Otík has been just eating and growing. One day, he eats some of Božena's hair. On another, Božena returns home to find that Otík has eaten their cat. Karel and his wife are then at odds: Karel pushes for killing the creature, while Božena defends it as their child. The baby later consumes a postal worker (Gustav Vondráček) and then a social worker (Jitka Smutná).
The resulting deaths lead Karel to tie up and lock Otík away in the basement of their apartment building, leaving Otík to starve. Alžbětka then secretly takes over as prime caretaker. She tries to keep Otík fed with normal human food, but, when her mother stops her, she is forced to drawing straws (matches in this case) to choose a person to feed to Otík. The chosen victim is an old man and pedophile, Mr. Žlábek (Zdeněk Kozák), who has been stalking her recently. Deciding she cannot take the stalking anymore, Alžbětka lures Mr. Žlábek to the basement, where he gets entangled by Otik's vines and devoured. Karel himself later becomes a victim when he comes into the basement with a chainsaw, but on seeing Otík, he hesitates and calls him "son" before dropping the chainsaw. Afterwards, Božena goes into the basement and is heard screaming, having become a victim herself. In the end, Otík disobeys Alžbětka despite repeated warnings and eats all of Mrs. Správcová's (Dagmar Stříbrná) cabbage patch, prompting the old woman to take charge.
===Ending=== In the fairy tale upon which the movie is based, the old woman kills Otesánek by splitting his stomach open with a hoe; however, the film ends with her descending the stairs, Alžbětka reciting the end of the fairy tale tearfully; the audience is not allowed to witness the deed.
==Cast== *Veronika Žilková as Božena Horáková *Jan Hartl as Karel Horák *Kristina Adamcová as Alžbětka *Jaroslava Kretschmerová as Alžbětka's Mother *Pavel Nový as Alžbětka's Father *Dagmar Stríbrná as Pani spravcova (the caretaker) *Zdenek Kozák as Mr. Žlábek *Gustav Vondracek as Mládek, the Postman *Jitka Smutná as Bulanková, the Social worker
==Reception== On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on {{nowrap|44 reviews}}, with a weighted average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though rather overlong, ''Little Otik'' is a whimsical, bizarre treat."<ref name="rottomatoes">{{cite web |title=Little Otik (2001) - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/little_otik/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes.com |publisher=Flixer |access-date=11 July 2018}}</ref>
The film won three awards at the 2001 Czech Lion Awards for Best Design, Best Film Poster, and Best Film.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=ČFTA |url=https://www.filmovaakademie.cz/en/2001/drz-itele-ceny-cfta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241011180248/https://www.filmovaakademie.cz/en/2001/drz-itele-ceny-cfta |archive-date=2024-10-11 |access-date=2025-10-02 |website=ČFTA |language=en}}</ref>
''Little Otik'' was placed at 95 on ''Slant Magazine'''s best films of the 2000s.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 February 2010 |title=Best of the Aughts: Film |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/best-of-the-aughts-film/216/page_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250515075205/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/best-of-the-aughts-film/ |archive-date=15 May 2025 |access-date=10 February 2010 |work=Slant Magazine}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title | id=0228687 | title=Otesánek}} *{{Rotten-tomatoes|id=little_otik|title=Otesánek}}
{{CzechLionBestFilm}} {{Jan Svankmajer}}
Category:2000 films Category:2000 comedy-drama films Category:2000 comedy horror films Category:2000s pregnancy films Category:2000 animated films Category:2000s Czech-language films Category:Films about trees Category:Films based on fairy tales Category:Films based on works by Karel Jaromír Erben Category:Films directed by Jan Švankmajer Category:Films with live action and animation Category:2000s monster movies Category:2000s stop-motion animated films Category:Czech comedy horror films Category:British comedy-drama films Category:Czech black comedy films Category:British black comedy films Category:Films set in apartment buildings Category:Films set in the Czech Republic Category:Films based on Slavic mythology Category:Czech Lion Awards winners (films) Category:Golden Kingfisher winners Category:2000 black comedy films Category:2000 British films Category:Czech animated comedy films Category:Czech animated horror films Category:Czech adult animated films Category:Czech monster movies Category:Anthropomorphic trees Category:Warner Bros. films Category:2000 Czech films