Mazes (Útvesztök) (2008) Movie Short Review

May 31, 2022

Mazes (Útvesztök) (2008) IMDB YouTube

If there is one kind of video that I always watch it is a hand-drawn animation. Get me on YouTube and give me a Bill Plympton video and I am happy. That is what this short film makes me feel like. It is a quick 8 minute short film by Hungarian artist István Orosz. One of his many artistic jobs in his career was as a poster designer and yet I could not find a movie poster for this short, so I made my own using the video. Útvesztök is Hungarian for maze.

On to the actual short. It is a series of 9 sections, each that starts with a maze, starting with the Ninth maze. You see a maze that is then solved using an on screen pencil - and the solve is always the number of the maze. Next you get a series of animated scenes; then maze 8, with the maze solved on screen, etc. It is fun to watch the animations and see what is going to be shown next. And the mazes look wonderful.

Fun to watch ! 6.5 / 10

You can watch the entire short film below !

Additional posts and sections you may like:

Reviews of over 80 Maze and labyrinth movies

How to make over 40 different mazes

Want to know which maze movies are the best ?

Maze of the Week #22 - Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch Maze

May 30, 2022

This week I am featuring a maze of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch located in Hartford, Connecticut to celebrate Memorial Day in the US. It becomes maze of the week #22 after a last minute switch with a lighthouse maze (now maze #37). There are many memorials (over 20) named this, or similar around the United States. This particular memorial celebrates those Hartford citizens that served in the US Civil War. The Memorial Arch was dedicated on September 17, 1886 and was designed by a local architect named George Keller.

If you want to learn more about the memorial arch, read the Wikipedia page , or just check out this video:

Here is a photo of the memorial:

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch - Connecticut State Library flickr

The maze: Finished? You decide. I can’t seem to find a clear picture of the battle scene that is banded above the arch. I attempted a few versions with it and none came out to my standards. I may add it in the future (and change the maze) if I find a good picture to work off of. I went with black and white. The brocks make for a good gridded maze construction.

I hope you enjoy the maze. Downloads are available on the homepage.

Coming next week:

An iconic sign maze from the world of sports !

Also interesting:

Maze Construction - 5 Maze Design Decisions Make All the Difference

Meander (2020) Movie Review

May 28, 2022

Meander (2020) IMDB Prime

Meander is a French sci-fi film from 2020 directed by Mathieu Turi. The film starts with a woman laying in the road who needs to move out of the way of an oncoming car. The woman ends up accepting a ride in the car with a man and they begin a conversation. Things go south (no spoiler) and the woman ends up passing out. She wakes in a strange, small room with a device attached to her wrist and dressed in techy full body suit.

The majority of the movie becomes a series of obstacles that she must overcome to escape the maze of tunnels she is stuck in. Walls are moving, countdowns are happening, water is flooding, tunnels are heating up, etc. It is a 1 person version of The Cube but in happening tunnels. Add in a strange creature (possibly an alien?), and some flashbacks of her life and we get a science fiction movie.

Through trial and error we get a woman trying to solve the maze, using clues others have left for her to find the exit. Does she?

Interesting movie, but a but too weird for me. 4.8 / 10

Check out the trailer below.

Additional posts and sections you may like:

Reviews of over 80 Maze and labyrinth movies

How to make over 40 different mazes

Want to know which maze movies are the best ?

How to Make a 7 Circuit Caerdroia Labyrinth

May 26, 2022

In this post I will show you how to draw a 7 circuit Caerdroia Labyrinth. I first became aware of this type of labyrinth, a variation of the Cretan labyrinth, when I saw it in the film, The Night House, which has a maze theme weaved into the storyline. This type of labyrinth is Welsh and they were used for gatherings of singing and dancing. To learn more about them check out Wikipedia.

How to Draw a 7 Circuit Caerdroia Labyrinth

Step 1 Draw the seed pattern

I came up with 2 possible seed patterns for this. The first is based on the classical 7 seed labyrinth and adjusted for the unique shape of this labyrinth. You can see this below in black overlaid onto the complete labyrinth in red. It uses a center cross (in this case offset), 4 L’s and 4 dots just like that seed uses.

The step by step instructions will use this seed, however there is another seed option I will review below.

Caerdroia Labyrinth seed pattern — Step 1 - Draw the seed pattern

Step 2 Note the Connection points

All seeds become labyrinths by connecting one point to another around the entire shape. For a 7 circuit you will need to make 8 connections as labeled below.

Caerdroia Labyrinth seed pattern with links shown — **Step 2 Note the connections**

Step 3 Note the location of the peaks and shape changes

In the northern part of the labyrinth, you have all circular pathways, and all of them have a peak that is centered between the first connection points (also centered above the center goal).

In the southern part of the labyrinth you have a square labyrinth. This portion of the labyrinth fills bottom half and a half step above the seed (this is an aesthetic choice by me - you may also use the seed as the point of shape change if you prefer)

Caerdroia Labyrinth design analysis — **Step 3 Location and shape changes**

Step 4 Draw and connect the pathways to create the labyrinth

After all the explanation above, connect the same numbered pathways to create the labyrinth. Connections 1-5 require (mostly) the drawing of semi-circles, while 6-8 require pathway extensions before drawing the semicircles.

Connect the pathways in order from left to right.

That completes the labyrinth, BUT let’s look at the other seed I mentioned above.

ALTERNATIVE Step 1 Draw the seed pattern

To simplify the connection drawing this seed requires only the drawing of semicircles, but a much larger seed which looks more like a very wide tree. There are still 8 connections to make, but they are more uniform. Just make sure you align all of their transition points from square shaped to circular shaped.

Caerdroia Labyrinth alternative seed pattern

All other step are basically the same, with just the drawing of your walls changing since you did more upfront work !

OPTIONAL STEP 5 Make any Aesthetic Changes

You have options for the wall.to pathway ratio. Below I made them equal. The display of corners ( I chose soft below vs. sharp corners), and how the ends of lines will look (I chose rounded vs squared).