Reviews by johanlefourbe

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. In fact, I think it must be the oldest documentary I have ever seen. Sure, I saw ‘Life of an American Fireman’ not long ago which was even older but so much of it was obviously staged, I’m not sure if you should really consider it as a documentary. However, in this case, you really fell like you have been dropped in a factory more than hundred years ago and, as far as I was concerned, for some reason, I thought it was quite mesmerizing to watch somehow. Indeed, you get to see the industrial revolution in its full glory and I thought it was quite interesting to see, in spite of all these fancy steam machines, how much people were still needed at the time to do some repetitive (and seemingly really boring) manual labor. Of course, at the time, nobody had any issue to have some kids involved as well. The main critic about this movie was the fact that a biscuit factory was extremely dull to watch but, while I would have to agree, I actually did appreciate that they focused on such a basic and decidedly not fancy establishment as you got a good taste of what it must have been for the folks doing this kind of jobs at the time. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I think it was actually pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.

It has been ages since I saw a movie directed by Jacques Tati (the guy made only 5 movies though) but since this movie has a really solid reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. I remember the first time I saw a Tati movie, I think it was ‘Jour de fête’, it must have been more than 20 years ago. Well, after hearing so many great things about his work, I have to admit that I was actually slightly disappointed. Eventually, it’s something that took me a while to understand, the fact that Tati’s movies are actually much deeper than your usual vintage silent comedies and it was eventually even more obvious with this movie. To be honest, I’m hardly surprised that this movie was a commercial and critical flop when it was released. Indeed, there was definitely something unique about this movie and, if you have any understanding of movies in general, you can’t deny that it was the work of a true artist. The attention to the details was quite impressive and, eventually, you have to figure out on your own what Tati was trying to achieve here. The one thing that struck me the most was when you get to see some advertisement showing London with a skyscraper and, then, a few seconds later, you basically got exactly the same landscape in Paris and it’s a feeling that I had so many times while I used to travel as much as possible. And, yet, even though I really admired the work done, I’m afraid it was still too random for me though. It’s not that I did mind the fact there was no real plot but there was also no real dialogues or even a main character. Indeed, even Mr Hulot only showed up and disappeared completely at random through the whole thing so there was not much for the audience to really hang on to. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was still a really original and intriguing movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jacques Tati’s work.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I wonder what was the meaning of this beautiful title but you won’t get any answer after watching this flick. Anyway, even though the end-result was definitely half-baked, I still think it was a really strong story. Of course, there was the issue of casting Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek to play some Iranian characters, even though Hayek does have some Lebanese roots. Above all, beside this dubious casting, both actors didn’t deliver some strong performances here but they were not helped by the approach chosen with this material. Indeed, at some point, Isaac got arrested and it was as if the whole movie stood still for way too long after that. Basically, they gave us a seemingly endless back-and-forth between Isaac getting tortured and Farnez worrying about him and not much else. In fact, the most interesting thing was not the relationship between Isaac and his wife but between Farnez and Habibeh, her servant. Indeed, instead of showing the Iran revolution being led by some religious fanatics, they gave a different point of view showing that the social inequalities in this country also played a role. As a result, I was quite surprised that, according to this movie, the main motivation behind the Iranian revolution was actually maybe not religion but financial discrepancies between rich and poor in Iran. Unfortunately, this angle was never properly handled which really felt like a wasted opportunity. Instead, they kept hammering the fact that the Western Capitalist way of life is apparently the answer to all problems which is definitely not the case. Indeed, our way of life only seems to be the least of all evils and all alternative lifestyles are simply not tolerated. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

I have finally started to dig into Buster Keaton’s work only recently but, since then, I have seen my share of movies starring the classic comedian and, by now, I think I have a good understanding of his work. In this case, I think it is the oldest movie I have seen starring the legendary actor and, at first, I was wondering why it was called ‘The Goat’ but I think it was probably some kind of abbreviation of ‘scapegoat’. Anyway, this short apparently does have a solid reputation but, even though I have to admit that it was pretty good, I don’t think it was one of his best shorts though. I don’t know, it felt really random but I have to admit that it is inherent to the genre. The concept was also rather preposterous, the fact that nobody checked who was actually on this picture before printing it out all over the place. Still, Keaton was just a great comedian and, obviously, one of the greatest stuntmen that ever lived so, in spite of its flaws, the damned thing was seriously entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even though the material was maybe too slight, it was still a really solid silent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. In fact, the day before, I actually watched ‘Rescued by Rover’ which was also directed by Cecil M. Hepworth and while ‘Rescued by Rover’ surprised me by its simplicity, I was amazed by how complex this movie turned out to be, at least, for a vintage feature made 120 years ago. It is mostly famous for being the very first adaptation of this iconic tale and I was wondering how they could tell this story in less than 10 mins (in fact, there is only one copy left of this movie and it is apparently missing some parts). Well, the end-result turned out to be some kind of supercut, jumping from one famous scene to another. To be honest, the damned thing was actually borderline incomprehensible, especially if you are not familiar with this story, and yet, I thought it was quite fascinating somehow. Indeed, the sheer ambition, especially considering the technical limitations back then, was just so inspiring and most of it was actually visually pretty neat. Anyway, to conclude, I do believe that this movie was quite a milestone and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, the version I saw on YouTube was pretty nasty but it’s understandable since this movie is now more than 100 years old. Sure, it might all seem quite rudimentary but it was in fact at the time a big box office success and I can understand why. Indeed, it was probably one of the first movies with an actual plot and, in spite of its sheer simplicity or actually because of it, it worked surprisingly well. It’s also important to note that, even though it might look easy when you watch this movie, working with animals is usually considered as one of the hardest things when you make a movie. Anyway, this dog was pretty awesome and you wish they could have developed more the characters involved but, with a running time under 10 mins and no dialogues or title cards, I guess you shouldn’t expect much in this area. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I still think it was pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, I still wonder what this first scene was all about. From a technical point of view, considering how old this movie is, it was pretty neat but I’m not sure what it was supposed to mean after all. Anyway, coming back on the movie itself, the end-result turned out to be some kind of hybrid feature. Indeed, since there was no plot, it wasn’t a fiction but, since everything was staged, I’m not sure if it should be considered as a documentary either (it probably is though). Especially when these firemen went to this house to put out this fire, it looked so fake. It’s too bad they didn’t go for something bigger regarding this fire but you should probably lower your expectations after watching for decades some massive Hollywood blockbusters with complex special effects which obviously didn't exist at the time. It was also rather funny to see a seemingly endless succession of vintage fire trucks driving in the streets when it turned out to be such a small fire after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really impress me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.