Eco parable, political allegory, urban myth? Resisting easy classification, this surreal blend of traditional fable and contemporary satire has the power to disturb, amuse and provoke. Doubtless the story's Lolita aspect will cause outrage.
However, this updating of an old Czech legend, in which a childless couple watch helplessly as their tree-stump baby evolves into a flesh-eating monster, is all about the aberrations that accrue from tinkering with nature.
Mischievously distorting every day sights and sounds in order to emphasise our base physicality, Jan Svankmajer expertly combines macabre animation with live-action (with Kristina Adamcova exceptional as a neighbour's innocent kid) to create a Golem for the Genome generation.