La Jetee

What a visually stunning short film this is. Do I find it particularly great? Yes and no. I think it is a bit of both. Great and also not so great. The visuals, the way it is edited, and the atmosphere are all fantastic and some of the most arresting imagery I have seen in film. I mean the filmmaker took something as banal as welder's goggles and made them look like the embodiment of evil. Plus almost the entire movie is made out of still pictures that fade in or ease in or out at different intervals and speeds. It is honestly more of a slideshow than an actual film. But there is one scene where it breaks this trend and creates a really vivid and surprising image with a dreamlike quality when the scene of the woman comes to life for a split second. The themes, the ideas, even the way the film is shot and edited are simply brilliant. 

But if all of those elements work so well, why is the film not one of the greatest masterpieces of cinema? Well, in all honesty it is a dull slog to sit through. Sure it looks pretty but it is not a particularly entertaining movie to watch. It feels dated at points, the narrator sounds like a pretentious ass and the whole idea of black and white pictures telling the story makes the experience of watching La Jetee more like watching a slideshow during health class back in the days when slide projectors were still the preferred method of teaching.

Now I could deal with how boring with movie is and still call the film a masterpiece in the long run. But for me what hurts the film the most is also what many feel is its calling card and its biggest strength. The whole pointlessness of it all is really frustrating. 

Why is it pointless? 

Let me elaborate why I feel that ultimately this short film is a complete waste of time. The narrator is untrustworthy. You cannot trust what he says because in the end nothing is ever resolved or clarified for the audience watching the movie. It is nothing but speculation.  There is no proof that there ever was a WWIII or that our protagonist even went back in time. This is what makes the narrator in many ways a complete liar. This movie is playing a trick on its audience. And for a first time watcher it may make an impact, like it did for Christopher Nolan who is one of the film's biggest fans. Which probably inspired the spinning top ending of his film Inception which I hated with a passion. 

But for me personally? This pretty looking movie that ultimately is nothing but a bunch of speculation, with a narrator who is full of it and characters that may or may not even exist is not brilliant. To me it is ridiculous and is a poor film. If any other film used this template of a movie that has no point in the end because nothing is proven to be fact or fiction it would get drawn and quartered by critics til the end of time. But since it is black and white, narrated by a french guy and is "experimental" it is a defining moment in cinema. I am sorry, but I call bullshit on that. This is about as defining as an episode of the Twilight Zone. As a matter of a fact there are episodes of The Twilight Zone that are better, more entertaining, and actually have a point. I find this to be one of the most overrated films of all time. It looks great. It does a good job with it's visuals. But then again John Carter looked pretty too. And that movie was a steaming pile of crap. This has no ending, and is a boring film to watch. Why the hell would I ever want to watch this again? It literally has nothing to offer other than some really good visuals.

I understand why people like it though, and why pretentious film snobs praise this as one of the medium's finest works. Because it appeals to that side of the critic, the side that pats their own egos on the back. Since it is left up to interperetation you can be as pretentious as you could ever dream to be regarding the overall meaning of the film, and turn up your snobby noses at people like me who think it is a waste of fucking time.

So in conclusion, La Jetee is a beautifully made film but its structure is horrid and is not revolutionary at all. A story that has a lying narrator and no definable ending? That isn't even a story let alone a film. I hate to think what an entire movie would look like if it followed this movie's template. I probably would have never been able to finish the film since I would have been asleep.

If I want to see this plot done that makes some semblance of sense I will watch 12 Monkeys again. That film at least has a good story to go along with its grand visuals. And it also has the benefit of Bruce Willis. Anything is better with some Bruce Willis. He made the ridiculous as hell flick Hudson Hawk a fun time, he can make anything better and more watchable by default. 

So yeah, not a fan of boring pretty looking pointless art flicks like La Jetee. It is like that dumbass piece of art where a guy just erased a painting and put the blank erased piece of paper in a frame and called it art and made millions. That was an empty frame holding nothing just like La Jetee.