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funny!

posted 20 years ago by zingingablenessedly
5 replies | jump to latest

This short made me chuckle so much my doggy wondered what was up! The slapstick humor, the music, and the silly story of two sledders in blizzard-land, showed me a side of Polanski I never would have imagined. This was a short on RP's 2-disc set "Knife in the Water" by Criterin Collection. Charlie Chaplin would be proud of Roman. There's eight shorts on this second disc, in chronological order. The other Chaplin-like short was "The Fat and the Lean" which also showed THE MAN himself in slapstick, performing silly humor with a goat, a violin, drums, a rocking chair, and table service, and Roman Pole dancing like a sprite in this one.

[–] tjantus 18 years ago

I found this film to be an amusing, yet poignant, tragicomedy--an absurdist view of the human condition. The two nameless protagonists take turns with the labor and rest, yet at the same time are scheming to take advantage of each other. They fake injuries to gain the other's sympathy, and escalate the action to violence in total disregard to it's self-destructive consequences, i.e. the loss of the sled, their only transportation in a hostile world.
In the end, despite the loss, they regain the cooperative spirit by agreeing to carry each other, yet the same self-interest is apparent. I thought this was a very funny, yet at the same time profoundly insightful, classic.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] tjantus 17 years ago

Thanks for the cue--I'll look them up!

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Kinematico 16 years ago

Yes it's quite funny, one of the best shorts from Roman Polanski. I am glad this short was included as a supplement in the "Knife in the Water" DVD.