Barque sortant du port

this is possibly the most beautiful of the early Lumiere shorts. A boat rows from the front of the screen away from the audience to the back, while to the right, women wait on the port. The camera, as usual, does not move, but the play of sunlight on the waves are gorgeous, and the rippling movement is so vibrant, especially within such a static frame, that it looks like one is watching an actual scene behind glass.

As with 'Demolition d'un mur', the real frisson of the film comes from the unexpected. The scene proceeds as expected, the boat moving steadily along. But, just as it turns, a stronger wave lunges, and almost capsizes the boat. Before we discover what will happen, the reel, and the film, ends. These early films made no precautions for the necessity of extra reels.

But the effect is quite shocking. The unexpected violence is unsettling enough, but with the film over, and loose ends nowhere near being tied up - indeed, just initiated a narrative, in the dying seconds - the audience is left agonising in the dark. What happened next? Inadvertently, the audience is required to imagine for itself, imagine what's not capable of being represented by the cinema, something the Hollywood generic system to come will stamp out. With its daring use of ellipsis, is this the first art-film, the first 'Cat People'?

Back in 1895, most films being released were mere experiments, recordings of daily life, one minute documentaries serving mainly as a device used to kickstart cinematic history. This particular film is among the more fascinating works of this era mainly due to its beautiful ocean imagery. It is made up of only one take that only clocks in at about fifty seconds, and yet it s more complicated than many of the other Lumiere films. There are many moving parts (the men, their boat, the wavy sea), the camera stays steady, but the visuals do not. The waves rock fearlessly, and the film ends before your conscious that it has begun. This is an interesting visual experiment crafted during the dawn of film, and should be judged as such. In comparison to many other Lumiere films, this is certainly a treat for the eyes and is a treasure of early cinema.

This is a pleasing little feature from the earliest years of cinema, with a nicely planned camera field that catches action both in and out of the water. The motion of the waves, and to a lesser extent the strokes of the oarsmen, result in action that is lyrical, almost rhythmic.

As with so many of the pioneering Lumière features, it displays a very nice choice of material, whether by careful design, by a good intuitive feel. or by a combination of both. The motion of the boat on the water is balanced very nicely by the movements of the small group of women and children at the water's edge. As, again, with a good number of these very early features, it bears watching a couple of times. The boat is what grabs all of the attention at first, but the other half of the scene is also worth noticing.

The artistic-looking setting would have made a worthwhile subject for one of the great French Impressionist painters of the era. It is also the kind of nicely photographed little scene that would not have seemed out of place if it were used as footage in the middle of a feature made in a much later era, since it holds up very well. The very brief footage also leaves you with a little curiosity, since it has shown you a small, simple, but far from dull piece of the lives of these persons. It accomplishes its aim, and is pleasing to watch.

The men (and one woman) were protecting whales. In one of the boats (though) there were 5 questionable men. they each took turns saying, "I don't know my past, I don't know why i'm here."'

Barque sortant du port (1895)

This Lumiere Brothers film is quite interesting o watch today thanks in large part to some terrific images and some fine camera-work. Three men are in a rowboat heading out into some violent and crashing waves while a group of women watch on a pier. Yeah, there's obviously nothing ground-breaking here but I must say that I was highly impressed with the camera-work. I'm not sure where the camera was placed but it really captured some beautiful images and especially the waves and the boat being thrown around. Another major plus is that the camera stays still and gives us a perfect look at the events.