For anyone wondering, Tiny Furniture was a bit of a bust. I'll explain more in a forthcoming interlude, but it wasn't that funny and overall disappointed.
This review is however for the next film I said I'd do, The Gold Rush, written, directed, and starring Charlie Chaplin.
This is, by far, the oldest film I've done and it is a silent film. It follows a lone prospector with no name that is essentially the same tramp character that Charlie spent most of his silent years as. His hijinks lead him to a cabin inhabited by a wanted outlaw, through a life-or-death struggle against hunger, heartbreak at the hands of a beautiful and sometimes cruel woman, and an adventure with a fellow prospector that ends in him finding his fortune. I hope no one finds any of this description to be distasteful spoiling, but this film is not the most original plot. Its strength is in the particulars.
I gave a 9.5 for wit based upon both acting and writing. This is based heavily on comparison with other Chaplin films, like City Lights, which also got a 9.5. They are of very similar quality, though lacking that which might give it a 10. Great dialogue, witty lines, etc. are not to be found in this film, but the acting is superb. The chief worker in all this is Chaplin. His physical comedy is rivaled only by his fellow silent film star, Buster Keaton. Charlie plays every comedy spectacle, from being blown through a house by high winds to doing a little dance routine with brown bread on forks, with ease and simplicity, the prime qualities of his ever smiling and ever heroic Tramp. When he dresses up like a chicken and is chased around a room by a miner driven mad by starvation, his willingness to take a dive and do the ridiculous for the sake of comedy is admirable. He also plays falling in love and having his heart broken. He could bring you to tears of joy and heartsickness in less than a minute, even at the same time. For a hopeful of a professional intellectual obsessed with language I find the silent medium hard. Letting go of the desire for that one-liner or involved pun is hard for me and letting myself laugh as Charlie shovels the snow in front of one business in front of another and succeeds in getting paid by three people to do so or when he and Big Jim McKay wake up in a house on the edge of a cliff and walk around trying to figure out what the problem is as the house tips back and forth doesn't come automatically, but if you allow yourself, Charlie will reward your patience.
For wisdom I gave another 9.5. This is because, though I love nearly everything this film says, including true love winning out, evil getting its due, good men standing up for women and bad men treating them badly, but the scene when the villain falls to his death off an iceberg and it is suggested in an interstitial that Nature has its own justice. I find it frustrating that they had to lay it on so thick. This feels like the Motion Picture Production Code's forced ending to The Bad Seed in which the guilty party is punished by Nature. It is simply too convenient, though not totally unlike theories that I harbor myself. It is simply too heavy-handed.
Wonder is a 9.5 as well. The house falling off a cliff, the snowstorm, and the bear are impressive spectacles for the period. I'll admit that the black-and-white and silent nature preclude many of the things I normally give wonder for. That said, I think that the film does great things, even amazing things for the period and is simply directed well.
I will not suggest that this be anyone's first Chaplin film. Ease into him with The Great Dictator, a brillliant, non-silent satire, made all the more impressive if you consider he was mocking Hitler while Time was still calling him Man of the Year. My personal favorite is City Lights, if you're willing to dive into silent films. It and Modern Times really showcase the depth of his humor. I hope that this catches some of you guys' attention. Tiny Furniture mini-review is forthcoming and my next film will be nearly the opposite of The Gold Rush. I got The Other Guys from the Bookmobile. I want to write this review as I recommend this movie to everyone I meet. I hope you guys are all doing well.
This is, by far, the oldest film I've done and it is a silent film. It follows a lone prospector with no name that is essentially the same tramp character that Charlie spent most of his silent years as. His hijinks lead him to a cabin inhabited by a wanted outlaw, through a life-or-death struggle against hunger, heartbreak at the hands of a beautiful and sometimes cruel woman, and an adventure with a fellow prospector that ends in him finding his fortune. I hope no one finds any of this description to be distasteful spoiling, but this film is not the most original plot. Its strength is in the particulars.
I gave a 9.5 for wit based upon both acting and writing. This is based heavily on comparison with other Chaplin films, like City Lights, which also got a 9.5. They are of very similar quality, though lacking that which might give it a 10. Great dialogue, witty lines, etc. are not to be found in this film, but the acting is superb. The chief worker in all this is Chaplin. His physical comedy is rivaled only by his fellow silent film star, Buster Keaton. Charlie plays every comedy spectacle, from being blown through a house by high winds to doing a little dance routine with brown bread on forks, with ease and simplicity, the prime qualities of his ever smiling and ever heroic Tramp. When he dresses up like a chicken and is chased around a room by a miner driven mad by starvation, his willingness to take a dive and do the ridiculous for the sake of comedy is admirable. He also plays falling in love and having his heart broken. He could bring you to tears of joy and heartsickness in less than a minute, even at the same time. For a hopeful of a professional intellectual obsessed with language I find the silent medium hard. Letting go of the desire for that one-liner or involved pun is hard for me and letting myself laugh as Charlie shovels the snow in front of one business in front of another and succeeds in getting paid by three people to do so or when he and Big Jim McKay wake up in a house on the edge of a cliff and walk around trying to figure out what the problem is as the house tips back and forth doesn't come automatically, but if you allow yourself, Charlie will reward your patience.
For wisdom I gave another 9.5. This is because, though I love nearly everything this film says, including true love winning out, evil getting its due, good men standing up for women and bad men treating them badly, but the scene when the villain falls to his death off an iceberg and it is suggested in an interstitial that Nature has its own justice. I find it frustrating that they had to lay it on so thick. This feels like the Motion Picture Production Code's forced ending to The Bad Seed in which the guilty party is punished by Nature. It is simply too convenient, though not totally unlike theories that I harbor myself. It is simply too heavy-handed.
Wonder is a 9.5 as well. The house falling off a cliff, the snowstorm, and the bear are impressive spectacles for the period. I'll admit that the black-and-white and silent nature preclude many of the things I normally give wonder for. That said, I think that the film does great things, even amazing things for the period and is simply directed well.
I will not suggest that this be anyone's first Chaplin film. Ease into him with The Great Dictator, a brillliant, non-silent satire, made all the more impressive if you consider he was mocking Hitler while Time was still calling him Man of the Year. My personal favorite is City Lights, if you're willing to dive into silent films. It and Modern Times really showcase the depth of his humor. I hope that this catches some of you guys' attention. Tiny Furniture mini-review is forthcoming and my next film will be nearly the opposite of The Gold Rush. I got The Other Guys from the Bookmobile. I want to write this review as I recommend this movie to everyone I meet. I hope you guys are all doing well.
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