Yoyo

I'm 47. It's genius. I have no other words, to say them would be a disservice.

OK my review didn't pass the quantity test: I have to write more lines otherwise I can't submit this.

Tarkovsky's "Ivan's Childhood" has burnt indelible images into my mind, so did this film.

This film also bought me joy. It's very beautiful, very very funny and at times very sad.

It's highly stylised throughout, each period of the story is depicted through the cinema conventions of that period (somewhat). The stylisation continues through highly over-exaggerated but incredibly musical sound design and almost no dialogue.

The cinematography is stunning, the direction and editing are stunning, the performances are excellent throughout.

I may be alone in thinking that this is one of the greatest films but please make your own judgement, I'm happy.

Is this a slow film? It takes it time, sure, and it should. I never wished it moved more quickly. Humor served so deliciously can take its time. There is biting satire, moments of brilliant, visual cleverness, smart homages to Chaplin, Keaton, Fellini and others-in a non-stop progression of sketches that are never merely silly. Young YoYo's playful delight in his exploration of a mansion is the spell that establishes the story's magic. And the boy clown, in his clown shoes, white gloves, whiteface, painted tear drops, red clown nose and turned down hat is not in costume, but wearing his natural street clothes-reveals the loving, longing heart of this endearing, classic French meal that like a Michelin 3-star dining experience, is enjoyed at a pace that you might savor all the textures, flavors as well as the presentation.

A strange little movie, of very few words, by Pierre Étaix. Ostensibly the story of a billionaire playboy discovering he has sired a son with a circus performer, it can be seen mostly as a kind of 1960s tribute to the silent age: packed to the brim with sight gags, it is seldom laugh-out-loud funny, but continually inventive, charming and gorgeous to look at.

If you are a fan of either the films of Jacques Tati or 'The Artist' (2011), with perhaps a touch of Wes Anderson, this feels cut from a similar cloth and may well appeal.

This movie was on TCM the other evening and I am glad I caught it. Host Robert Osborne explained that it was tied up in litigation for many years and has had little TV or theater exposure. Coincidentally, it was at the Film Forum in NYC in April, along with 3 other films of director/star/writer Pierre Etaix.

As mentioned in my title, he borrows heavily from both Tati and Chaplin, and it is a very successful blend of both. He has lots of clever sight gags of the kind Tati sprinkled liberally throughout his films, as well as the prolonged kind of skit favored by Chaplin. But whereas Tati's characters are primarily two-dimensional, Chaplin's are often fleshed out with heart, and the humor contained sometimes comes with a tinge of pathos. Etaix combines the best elements of both masters and the result is a very thoughtful brand of comedy which draws the viewer in like a vortex.

I only recorded this one, but I wish I had recorded the others. His is a unique type of humor which comes with an emotional ingredient I had not seen before in film comedy. It is presented as a mini-saga, for lack of a better term, of a boy who grows to manhood trying to earn enough to restore his father's château. His mother, a circus acrobat, had become estranged from his father years earlier and retained custody of the boy. More than 40 years elapse during the film and Etaix plays both the father and, later, the boy grown up.

A reviewer above mentioned that Etaix displayed genius. I would like to see more proof but the reviewer is on the right track. "Yoyo" is a special film from a gifted filmmaker which will touch your heart as comedy rarely does.

While Tati seemed to love performers this film abuses them, its seriously unfunny. The actors are fine but they are treated shoddily. The film maker seems to want to denigrate live performers. It's inventiveness is not enough salvage it's integrity.. Check out any Tati movie and compare the framing the narrative and the characterization to appreciate how trite this film is by comparison. Oddly it was made AFTER Tati's heyday. One would hope something had been learned. French satire by its very nature is somewhat lame, but this is embarrassing. It's as though Germany had won in 1871 and infected European story telling.