L'école des facteurs

While I feel that a knowledge of Tati's entire oeuvre would be necessary to comment appropriately on his genius for physical comedy, this short is a fine introduction to the hallmarks of his style.

His gift for physical comedy is underscored by an understanding of the nuance and rhythm of motion, and how it portrays character. Underneath it all is his unfailing warmth for the beauty and simplicity of the human community -- at least the community where our familiarity with our neighbors carries the sweetness and lyricism so lost in the icy excess of the modern...and post-modern.

The scene where he enters a cafe and dances to jazz music, along with a few other couples who happen to be in the cafe, is masterful. The postman's joy in dance, in motion, and, most of all, in the spontaneous, is the stuff of genius.

What's more, it's great entertainment.

You may also marvel and wonder at just how he technically accomplished the shots of the postman's bicycle riding itself. My opinion is that Tati was a remarkable artist and the 20th century was graced by his presence beyond its merit.

Tati did more in less than half an hour here than most film artists will accomplish in their career.

It is one of the best early work of Tati. You can find all the gags of 'L'école des facteurs' in 'jour de fête' but I think that the timing is better in this one. It is in this piece that you realise how perfectionist Tati was.

Most people reading this will have seen Jour de Fête already. L'École des Facteurs is better. In all arts I find paring the subject down its essentials makes a greater impact on the viewer or listener. Whereas Jour de Fête is a nostalgic look at a fading France, L'École is all action of character and his foils. Few moments are left for the foils (or victims) to react, not a moment is wasted. It is a series of sketches seamlessly stitched together into a hilarious narrative- not an easy feat.

But I am of the television generation, to whom 22 minutes makes an hour. I want my entertainment to get down to business, which may explain why I prefer the short format.

Eh bien, vous avez besoin de quelque chose de plus? (What more do you need?)

It's the rounds of a bicycle mailman, carrying the letters and small packages the people on his route receive, done the Tati way, with a blithe disregard for the wearying modern methods that bring speed but no pleasure. In other words, it's the sort of movie he would make at feature length.

Tati is usually held in such esteem by those who know his work, that in fairness, I should say I don't find his work funny. That is not to imply it's not good or even great, but his work seems to me more on the order of nostalgic musings, pleas to stop and enjoy the oddities, like a bicycle that knows its rider's habit so well that it can run his route without him, and stop at his favorite cafe.

Tati's work had not reached its later levels here. He's more concerned with the gag and punchline and the reactions of others - although more the youngsters than his nominal superior. Even so, this is a bright, offbeat short that should please Tati's fans and amuse those with twenty minutes to spare.

School for Postmen (1947)

*** (out of 4)

Tati short has him playing a postman who will stop at nothing to get the mail delivered quickly. This was my first film from Tati and after hearing many comparisons to Chaplin it's easy to see why. I really loved the way he went for broke when it came to the humor in the film and that includes a wide range of gags ranging from literally riding his bike on the back of a truck to avoiding death by cutting in front of cars. I know Tati remade this with Jour de Fete but this short is still worth seeing. It really does play out a lot like a Chaplin short from the 1920s as Tati's character never says much of anything and him constantly getting into one mess after another makes for a sweet natured character that I really enjoyed. I'm still not quite sure how they got the bicycle to drive by itself but it was certainly a great gag.