I’d totally forgotten that the Jacques Tati box set had a disc of shorts. But these shorts are pretty long — 20 to 30 mins.
This first one seems very lightly restored: It’s been stabilised (there’s no judder or shifts), but there’s plenty of scratches, dirt and stuff.
Well, OK. This is an early Tati short, and not directed by him. So I’m not expecting a lot. But this is really clunky.
Not to mention a bit cruel. But, I mean… I do think you can see the glimmer of his later films here. He insists on this gold fish gag way longer than you’d expect — and it’s not a good gag, but the sheer insistence on it does say something.
That is, right from the start, he’s not doing naturalistic stuff — it’s all very mannered and slightly surreal.
Nice statue.
It’s always hard to throw the die on these types of films. Is this an interesting thing to watch if you’re a Tati fan? Sure! If, not, is this actually a, like, good movie? No. There’s like a handful of gags in here, and a couple of them are good.
Brute Wanted. Charles Barrois. 1934. ⚁
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