On the hunt for the kidney stone

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Movie
German title On the hunt for the kidney stone
Original title Jakten på nyresteinen
Country of production Norway
original language Norwegian
Publishing year 1996
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Vibeke Idsøe
script Vibeke Idsøe
production John M. Jacobsen
music Ragnar Bjerkreim
camera Kjell Vassdal
cut Håkon Overås
occupation

The children's film On the Hunt for the Kidney Stone is a Norwegian fantasy film from 1996. The film opened on June 5, 1997 in German cinemas.

action

Eight-year-old Simon lives with his grandfather on a desert island during the summer holidays. The grandfather tells Simon about his grandmother, who died 31 years ago. Since then, the old man has mourned his wife and has never got over the loss. The grandfather used to be a jazz musician, but has never played properly since his wife's death.

The next day, grandfather wants to go to town with Simon to meet some old musician friends and play again. But grandfather is very bad at night. Since there is no phone on the island, Simon doesn't know how to help grandfather. Then his teddy bear reports, who knows a solution. With the help of his chemistry kit, the teddy bear brews a magic potion that makes Simon shrink. Simon gets into his grandfather's body through his mouth to see if everything is right. There he meets Karta, a very young male white blood cell. Karta has a map of the body as a white blood cell. But because he is still young, his card is still incomplete. Karta and Simon set out together to find the pain of their grandfather. In doing so, they roam a wide variety of organs. Alveola, a young female red blood cell, joins your search. The secret service agent gave the three decisive information that salt chopping was the cause of the disease. They form a kidney stone in the kidney.

Since the grandfather, as an old man, has long made decisions based on his stomach, his mind is also there. This gives the three of them the hint that water will dissolve the kidney stone. But the grandfather drank far too little, so finding water is not easy. But since the grandfather has not cried in years, his tear glands are full, and so the three of them have the water they need. When they finally get to the kidney stone, they actually manage to dissolve it. This is how they get into the heart. The grandmother has lived there for many decades. Simon receives an award, and the grandmother gives Simon another musical request for the grandfather's concert tomorrow with him on the way.

After the grandfather wakes up the next morning, he is cured and goes to town with Simon. He fulfills the music request and feels his wife singing again. And so the old man can cry again after many years.

analysis

construction

The film is visually very complex. The various organs through which Simon walks with the white and red blood cells in the course of the film are very imaginatively worked out, with the production being based on classic stage structures combined with modern computer tricks.

In addition, the viewer learns a lot about the emotional states of the main characters and the development they go through in the course of the story.

people

Simon is an eight year old boy who is suddenly faced with a threatening situation. His grandfather is sick and he doesn't know how to help him. So he finally gets into the realm of fantasy and embarks on a fantastic journey. In the process, the boy matures himself, because in the end he will grow up again from the shrunken state because he has grown in courage in fighting the kidney stone.

One learns a lot about the grandfather in the course of history. He has withdrawn into himself and cannot properly deal with the death of his wife. But finally he frees himself from the emotional isolation when he realizes that his beloved wife was always in his heart.

The white and red blood cells are also represented as sensitive beings. They too go through a learning process in the course of the story and eventually fall in love with each other.

needs

In the film, the level of reality is mixed with a pure fantasy world. The question is left open whether Simon was actually in his grandfather's body, or whether it wasn't just a dream and the old man drank water in time at night.

Further information

The idea of ​​letting shrink people wander through a human body has been implemented several times in films. On the one hand in Die phantastische Reise (1966) by Richard Fleischer and in Die Reise ins Ich (1987) by Joe Dante .

Reviews

“The loving staging opens up wide spaces for the child's imagination and, thanks to its optical ingenuity, is also able to easily captivate adults.”
Film-dienst 11/97

"ON THE HUNT FOR THE KIDNEY STONE is not a medical educational film, nor does it have any unsettling monstrous images, but lives from the idea of ​​understanding the body as a landscape, populated by people in fantastic costumes who go about their work. The fact that feelings such as friendship, love, jealousy, envy, greed for power also occur, ensures thoughtful encounters as well as pleasant situations. "
Christel Strobel, KJK 70/97

“A fairytale adventure journey based on puppet and children's theater, which is fun and instructive at the same time, translating abstract bodily processes and emotional states into imaginative images. The somewhat gloomy, yet loving production opens up wide spaces for the child's imagination and, thanks to its optical ingenuity, is also able to easily captivate adults. ”
Lexicon of international film

“Vibeke Idsøe's film is not so charming because of the considerable amount of tricks and bizarre design imagination, but rather because of its atmospheric density and sentimental lightness. There is no silly children's cinema cuteness here, but a rare spirit blows: cheerful charm. ”
Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 126/1997

Awards

“In the hunt for the kidney stone”, which Vibeke Idsøe directed for the first time, received a total of seven awards. In 1997 he received an "Amanda Award" for best first work. In 1997 the special effects were also awarded at the “Fantafestival” and the “Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema”.

festival Award country year person
Amanda Award Best first work Norway 1997 Vibeke Idsøe
Chicago International Children's Film Festival Award of the adult jury United States 1997 Vibeke Idsøe
Fantafestival Best special effects
Grand Prix in silver 		Italy 1997 Martin Gant , David Estern
Vibeke Idsøe
Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema Best Director,
Best Film,
Best Special Effects 		Spain 1997 Vibeke Idsøe
Vibeke Idsøe
Martin Gant, David Estern

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