Tako Tsubo, also known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome, is a rare, acute-onset dysfunction of the heart muscle, similar to that of a heart attack. It usually results from extraordinary emotional or physical stress.

In the movie Tako Tsubo the protagonist Mr. Ham decides to have his heart removed to free himself from his complicated emotions. The doctor assures him that, in this day and age, this procedure no longer poses a problem.

All movement is micro-gesture here. That goes also for the slight turning of Ham's hand as he holds his newly removed heart in front of himself, pondering: "Subject... object..." Turning from muscular thing to Ego's hard core, the heart dissolves into abject, i.e., into the mess made by the blood that flows from the hole in Ham's chest. But it is by way of affect that Ham's heart has already become independent and stubborn, releasing an angry diatribe of mysterious quasi-rhymes – mother, embittered, pity – at him. Poetry merrily flows from the scene in which a heart is held pensively, much as Shakespeare's brooder (Ham-let!) once held up a skull. (...) And it makes perfect sense to close with the siren-like ballad "Sweet Charity" in which Berlin-based musician Mary Ocher asks: “Will you come on down when I'm on my knees?” Sure I will! (Drehli Robnik)

Credits

Direction and Animation: Eva Pedroza
Direction and Script: Fanny Sorgo
Voices: Len Jakobsen, Anne Kulbatzki and Benjamin Martin
Music: Mary Ocher
Production: Eva Pedroza, Fanny Sorgo and Maria Trigo Teixeira
Additional Animation: Janka Dosa
Compositing and Grading: André Cunha

Supported by Land Niederösterreich, Niederösterreich Kultur, Stiftung Kulturwerk, Neustart Kultur Berlin, Stiftung Kunstfonds

Distribution and World Sales: sixpackfilm