When one day, you are tired of Wang Baoqiang's sly laughter and jumping up and down, very low and very vulgar, very noisy comedy, you may not be able to help but ask: Is there a kind of comedy that is very quiet but funny?
There used to be.
It is said that time was slow in the past, in fact, no matter how fast or slow, only by quieting down and staring at time will you find the short-lived beauty of life and discover an elegant comedy. France's Jacques Tati is one of the masters.
Truffaut once said that in France, where artists are like clouds, there are only two masters who have complete 100% control over their works, one of whom is Bresson, who has made films such as "Death Row Escape" and "Money", and the other is Jacques Tati, who is known for his slowness.
In the field of comedy films, Jacques Tati is undoubtedly a true master, and he is called the three masters of comedy films along with Keaton and Chaplin.
André Bazin, the god of film theory, and Jill Deleuze, the philosopher who wrote Time-Image, wrote his own chapter specifically for Tati.
Like Chaplin, all of Jacques Tati's works are self-written and self-directed.
The same is true of "Mr. Huluo's Holiday" today.
Mr. Hulo's Holidays in 1953
Mr. Hulot's holidays
Director: Jacques Tati Starring: Jacques Tati France Comedy 99min
Synopsis: Hulo, an honest man with a quirky personality, comes to the seaside town of the Bretagne Peninsula for a vacation, but he makes a mess there, because no matter what he has to do, sooner or later things will go out of style...
Mr. Hu luo is characterized by a cowardice to fully affirm his own existence, and he is always hesitant and elusive. He had a long pipe in his mouth and leaned forward as he walked, as if he were about to fall. He was gentle and elegant, but stumbling, looking so out of place.
However, it is this attitude of being at peace with the world around us that must be the cause of all unpleasant events.
This is not to say that Mr. Hulo is stupid, but rather that he is extremely elegant and a "daredevil angel".
Each step he took was enough to form a ballet performance. The charm of this comedy comes from his small swings, even if it is a "wrong step", it can produce the power of dreams, bringing depth and vitality to the "plane".
As soon as Mr. Hulo arrived at the small hotel by the sea, he caused a series of chaos.
Whether it is a meal in a restaurant or a dance party in the evening, or hanging out on the beach and basking in the sun, as long as Mr. Yu Luo is there, the regular and stereotyped life will always be inadvertently disturbed by him.
With the help of Mr. Luo's level of "chaos" and "storm", Tati released a dream-like delirium and established a new audiovisual art.
The style in Mr. Jacques Tatiyolo's series is a "silent comedy of the sound film era": chaotic acoustics, clearly recognizable but meaningless dialogue, reorganized sounds, all go deep into the visual image, rather than staying in the simple "perception-motion" mode.
Decades later, we saw a similar performance in Mr. Bean. The protagonist of this kind of improv comedy is always so vivid and prominent that you can't forget it once you see it.
Since the protagonist with such a distinct personality represents the nature of this comedy, a film such as "Mr. Yu Luo's Holiday" can not have a plot that runs through the whole film, that is, there is no direction of progression from the time of cause and effect, and the beginning and end are non-existent, but use a paragraph structure to connect each adventure and misfortune of Yu Luo.
These passages can be started with "Once, Mr. Yu Luo..." and "Another time, Mr. Yu Luo...". Ordinary everyday life is a never-ending comedy.
You can open the film in any segment without worrying about not understanding the plot. Because these paragraphs are independent of each other, they are only related in meaning.
Again and again, again and again, the "chaos" created by Mr. Yu Luo began again and again, like a wave of spreading, or like a gust of wind and rain, hitting a small hotel on the seashore, composing and breaking up the crowd, connecting and separating the crowd, like modern ballet, taking away and attracting the living.
Such a use of time as material is unprecedented in film history.
The jokes in the film often use "time and order" to make a fuss, constituting a new material for funny films. The annual July seaside vacation, in Bazin's view is "ceremonial time", these French people rush to the beach on time as soon as they arrive at a point, as hurried as clocking in to work, cars and trains driving to somewhere by the sea, as if according to the mysterious signal to instantly surround the resort, whether it is fun or not, anyway, the vacation is to go to the beach, play has become a form of etiquette, routine, even more punctual than work. Thinking that Chinese tourists will see the crowds on time every Golden Week decades later (and that history will repeat itself next year), I can't help but say that there is nothing new under the sun: can you really get free away from everyday life? I doubt this as much as Tati.
In the film, there are many more such punctual clock movements, so it seems particularly absurd. The opening and closing of the restaurant door in the small hotel is the rhythm of this rigid order: when it comes to breakfast or dinner time, guests line up like fish to enter. As soon as the sun came out, they rushed to the beach again.
For every guest who came in, the waiter cut a piece of meat according to his body, and the door rang. These elements form a balanced aesthetic, with the rhythm of the meat cutting, the rhythm of the entrance and the piano piece blending perfectly.
The only guest who did not make it time was Mr. Yu Luo. So, only he takes the audience to experience this flow of time, roaming with an untimely person, like the fireworks in the movie that are set off in advance before the festival, and make a big, embarrassing joke with time.
Godard felt that the best thing about "Mr. Hulo's Vacation" was the funny and calm observation of the whole world: "This is Tati's interest: ordinary things, the edges of grass, kites, children, little old men, etc., everything is in this world, everything is at the same time real, strange and charming and lovely." 」 ”
Watching Mr. Yu Luo's life comedy in the movie now always evokes a kind of memory of the once innocent life. We have more and more matter, but we become controlled by matter. Scattered time is also tied to the screen of the mobile phone, but people are still very lonely and empty, forgetting what is really playing, forgetting to communicate with real human companions face to face.
If you feel that it is not too addictive after watching this film, Tati still has "My Uncle", "Play Time", "Traffic Accident" waiting for you, all of which are Mr. Yu Luo as the protagonist Yo~