Amazon.com: This reissue of the second release in a series of DVD anthologies of short films, like its fellow Short titles, is loosely organized around a common theme--in this case, the terrain of the subconscious. The big fish here is Chris Marker's 1962 classic, La Jetée, the forever- haunting, post-apocalyptic story of a man's descent into a time-tripping dream state, where his origins and destiny fold together in one fleeting moment at an airport. If that scenario sounds somewhat similar to a certain Terry Gilliam feature (oh, OK, it's 12 Monkeys), you're right, and Gilliam can be heard on an alternate soundtrack here talking about the challenge and fun of being "inspired by" Marker's film. (Yet another alternate soundtrack features commentary by 12 Monkeys screenwriters David and Janet Peoples.) Not surprisingly, La Jetée turns out to be a hard act to follow, and there's not much on Short 2 that even comes close to its league. Alison De Vere's 1974 animated piece, Café Bar, about a blind date at a coffee house, is more intriguing for its historical value as a "brushsticks style" of crafting images than as a work of art. Joachim Solum and Thomas Lien's watery Depth Solitude is an effectively blunt and bizarre--but ultimately obvious--fable about a pool cleaner who lives in his deep-sea-diving suit at the bottom of a public swimming facility. The best thing going for it is an English-language narration by Max Von Sydow, who unfortunately is not involved with Carmen Elly's A Guy Walks into a Bar. This competent but wearying film, about a college-bound young man (Fred Savage) who meets up with a sexy hitchhiker (Allison Moir) and finds his world changed, does not inspire thoughts of a second viewing. On the plus side, there's an interview with independent director George Hickenlooper and an accompanying, interesting bit showing us a pre-production prototype of select scenes from Hickenlooper's The Big Brass Ring. If you've seen the latter movie in its finished state (based on an original script by Orson Welles and Oja Kodar), it is startling to watch an entirely different roster of actors (including Malcolm McDowell) in roles that Hickenlooper ultimately recast with William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Miranda Richardson, and Irène Jacob. --Tom Keogh
Criterion release in June Just to let everyone know who have been disappointed with the DVD versions, that Criterion are bringing out a hi-def version with new and improved English subtitle translations in June, 2007.
READ HERE FOR A DIFFERENT, POSITIVE REVIEW You have heard of the cult-classic La Jettée, and either you are dying to see it, or have seen it and are dying to have it. Now you have finally found it on this collection, but are probably having serious second thoughts after looking at the price-tag, and reading all these other pretentious, snobby reviews.
Well, if the price-tag is getting in the way of you buying this, I can empathize. Short Dreams 2 may be a collection, but know before purchasing that La Jettée is the only remarkable movie-short on this collection. So only you can decide if a 26 minute movie-short is worth that price. But if money is for the mort-part no object for you in this particular decision, and especially if you have not seen La Jettée before, PLEASE do NOT let these detractors on the other reviews turn you away from purchasing Short Dreams 2!
I have never considered myself an American-rube. I lived in Europe twice before (Germany and Switzerland), and among other countries, I have been all over France. I love France; I love her history, culture, food, and landscape... And I think French is the most beautiful-sounding language in the world by far. Taking all of the above into consideration, I think that THIS VERSION OF La Jettée IS ABSOLUTLEY FINE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!
Undoubtedly, the original French version was probably more poetic (and in all fairness, the producers should offer that version too). BUT if one is not fluent in French, subtitles would not work, because this is (except for a very small segment which is live-action [look closely]) an artsy, still-photograph movie-short. If you would watch the original French version and it would have subtitles, you would most likely miss some of the (at times) rapidly changing still-pictures as the film progresses, and consequently not be able to truly experience [or should I type feel?] all of the film at once. And I will not even entertain the notion that the film should only be produced in French with no subtitles- that is elitist, and also not in the spirit of European countries, like France, who often have English and American films dubbed-over in their native language. It is narrated by a Frenchman in English, and I like his mild-accent and his choice of words very much. By the way, most of the people on the other reviews FAIL to mention that this is the PREFERRED version of Chris Marker, the director of La Jettée! Case closed. The English version of La Jettée works wonderfully, and for me was worth the price. La Jettée will make a fine edition to your movie-collection, and I can almost guarantee that most of your friends or family will have never seen it before, or probably never have even heard of it- and if they have any poetic or artistic sensibility, they will love this version of La Jettée. Enjoy. :-)
bijouflix-for French If you're looking for a dvd copy of la jetee in french (with english subtitles), check out bijouxflix. I just got mine in the mail, and the copy is grainy but otherwise intact.
english??? I agree with the majority of the opinions expressed here so no need to go into detail - the English narration for La Jetee does a serious disservice to this remarkable film. I have done a fair bit of research to determine a source for the claim that Marker 'prefers' this version but cannot find verification and therefore choose to disbelieve it. I have a fuzzy old version on VHS of the original French version and it is by far preferable. Also the English version suffers seriously in some places from a different mix balance between the narration and the music/sfx - very noticeable at the climactic final scene at the airport - in the French one has a tremendous emotional response to the story's conclusion partly because of the soaring music and screaming jet engines, in the English both music and effects are mixed far lower under narration resulting in a very muted concusion. HUGE DISAPOINTMENT ALL ROUND.
La Jetee--- devastating film, but lousy redone narration... This DVD contains one of non-mainstream cinema's most haunting (there's that word again) classics, "La Jetee". A French short done (almost) entirely in B&W stills. The problem is that the DVD has the 1962 narration, originally done in French with English subtitles, changed to ENGLISH narration.
This is NOT snobbery, but this really hurts the mood of the picture. It's not simply that they dared translate it, but (as one poster points out below) the English narration, aside from changing some of the meaning of the phrasing, is just not as well done as the French. The original French narration was as stark and ominous as the film itself, and the new English narration lacks this, altering the effect of the film, taking it not simply out of France but out of the era in which it was filmed.
Mistake!!! Allegedly, Chris Marker gave his thumbs up on the new narration. If true, that doesn't mean that much to me (Peter Weir cut 7 minutes out of his 1975 film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" years after the fact and, in so doing, ruined it!) Besides. Marker probably thought the English narration would make the film more accessible to American audiences.....
Well (and this WILL sound snobbish), film fans who are going to appreciate "La Jetee" are not the same folks, frankly, who will demand such changes. To do so, panders to an audience that "La Jetee" is never going to have anyway.
Find a fuzzy cassette copy with the original French narration: otherwise, you haven't really seen the film.
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