MovieChat Forums > La jetée (1962) Discussion > I don't understand the Praise and the Hi...

I don't understand the Praise and the High Rating

posted 16 years ago by leehindmarsh4
10 replies | jump to latest

Why is this rated so highly on here?? Basically i dont really take much notice of the ratings on here, because half of the people who vote "Saw 4" is there favorite film. But i was just wondering what people saw in this?

Im willing to change my opinion if someone gave me and insight into the film

[–] kcycrs 15 years ago

Here's a recent quote by Jim Ridley of the Nashville Scene about a totally different film that explains it all: "To hear cynics tell it, you could translate a Matlock episode into French and critics would hoist it to their shoulders."

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cafe_et_cigarettes 14 years ago

"To hear cynics tell it, you could translate a Matlock episode into French and critics would hoist it to their shoulders."

That's bull. The English narration is just as good in fact I saw the English version before I saw the French and it captured the story just as well. This Film is true art and it does what a lot of Films today don't which is tell the story with great photography. Film is art and it is and should be great photography in motion. I always thought movies should be able to tell story on just the visual alone and this Film certainly does.

" ...Like the mannequin in the window. Trompe-l'œil"

[–] Revolutionow 14 years ago

I think you missed the point of that quote.

All I can think about are dudes.

[–] cafe_et_cigarettes 14 years ago

I wouldn't doubt it, I'm pretty retarded sometimes.

" ...Like the mannequin in the window. Trompe-l'œil"

[–] djpanda2x 15 years ago

"Im willing to change my opinion if someone gave me and insight into the film "

you should never let anyone else form an opinion for you. watch it again, theres fantastic lighting, an intriguing story, great audio, interesting characters, and a thought provoking ending. this is what people see in it.

[–] zero-signal 12 years ago

??? did i watch something else ???

[–] kattjaevel 14 years ago

It's interesting.

[–] BlueGreen 14 years ago

But i was just wondering what people saw in this?

I can only tell you what I saw in it.

First, there is the innovation factor.
I am not a fan of innovation for its own sake, but here the technique used serves a very valid purpose: to convey a story as intimately as possible, to produce a direct - rather than intellectually mediated - impact on the viewer.
(You cannot narrate a story like this in such a short time by using a traditional narrative technique - and expect it to be effective.)
You feel as if you were really inside that man's mind/world - a post-apocalyptic world where your memories are the only thing you have left of your previous Self, of your previous humanity.

Secondly, and I think this is very important, it shows cinema as the art of visual narration at its best. Many seem to think that it's the possibility of countless special effects what makes cinema so great. But no "special effects" can match the sheer imagination of an individual.

This film, on the other hand, achieves its effect by NOT emulating the seeming continuous stream of imagery that is our experience of life - by interrupting it. By doing so, it reduces it to what it really is: single images, constructed, sometimes misunderstood, often mysterious, always deceptive in their appearance. It is we who provide the seeming "continuity". If something interrupts the rhythm of that seeming streaming, we're left with fragments that show no more and no less than our yearning. (THAT is essentially what our lives are about: yearning for something to "come" that will match the vague images of something that "was".)

And of course, there is the subject matter itself. Not only was the possibility of WW III a very real concern in the minds of people in the early 1960s, but the devastation brought on by mankind still can speak to every one of us.
As for TIME (timespace), it is the greatest enigma of all, to which we are all captive.

I'll probably be reviewing this post in the future, so... stay tuned. ;)

[–] zezslav 7 years ago

I have to agree with the OP. Watching this today, it's nothing special. It has interesting premise, but the story itself is rather, well, not polished, it has few pitfalls that makes the story not so "solid". The presentation, still images, is nicely done, with a short very magical moment. If I had seen this as this was first shown, I very well might have been in awe of it, but today, not so much.

I have seen 12 monkeys before this, so that most certainly affected my viewing. Anyways, to me it's easy, 12 monkeys is much better movie, much better fully fleshed script, and basically everything done better. Especially the time traveling thing is much better in 12 monkeys.