Sherlock, Jr. Reviews
Sherlock, Jr. review
Posted : 3 weeks, 6 days ago on 9 April 2024 02:11Outstanding physical comedy as always from the legendary Buster Keaton
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A classic
Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago on 20 October 2022 03:270 comments, Reply to this entry
Sherlock, Jr. review
Posted : 2 years, 1 month ago on 10 March 2022 01:340 comments, Reply to this entry
Sherlock Jr.
Posted : 11 years, 2 months ago on 26 February 2013 10:16Itās certainly the most avant-garde. While many of his films may dip their toes into surrealistic images or make you think youāre hallucinating what youāre seeing, this one actually is a surrealistic, hallucinatory journey through the imagination. Itās also a love letter to cinema in many ways.
Keaton is a love-sick film projectionist who daydreams of becoming a world class detective. After being incorrectly framed as a thief by his romantic rival, Keaton falls asleep in the booth and begins his whimsical (dream) journey. A still outstanding bit of camera trickery sees Keatonās ghostly dream-version rise out of his still sleeping body and walk into the theater. He continues walking until he has actually become one with the running bits of stock film footage on the big screen.
In this film/dream world, he is a well-respected detective and goes on to solve an elaborate mystery. This film/dream world is a testament to the power of the imagination and to the cinema. Not only is he able to right the wrongs of his real life, but he can escape from reality and become whoever he wishes to be. Has that not been the power and magic of reading, theater and film since the beginning?
Keaton has created a wonderful visual poetry with his too numerous to mention memorable gags in this film. The lockstep behind his rival, the moment he enters the screen, a pool game that doesnāt go as planned, a window escape that involves a costume change, or a moment in which he appears to jump into the body of his friend. Theyāre each astounding and I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how brilliant they are.
Sherlock Jr. is the kind of movie that ignites the Keaton vs. Chaplin debate. Theyāre both brilliant (for the record, I fall into the Chaplin camp), and if any movie could convert me to the otherās camp, it is this one. The tremendous economy of the storytelling leaves no room for lags or quiet moments. The gags are brilliant, the stunts are memorable, and Keatonās three-in-one character/performance is a masterclass in underplaying for effect. Itās also fairly disarming to realize that even this early into cinemaās life artists were creating films which reflected on the relationship between medium and viewer. And to think a movie like The General was still just around the corner. Amazing.
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Silent Perfection
Posted : 11 years, 3 months ago on 16 January 2013 10:13Iām not a silent film aficionado, Iām more of a tourist when it comes to this era of filmmaking. Sherlock Jr. is the only silent film Iāve ever awarded a perfect five-star rating and I doubt I will ever come across another silent movie as fun, thrilling, inventive or as mind-blowing as Sherlock Jr.; in my view Buster Keatonās crowning achievement. Most of Keatonās silent output is great but even by his impeccable standards, Sherlock Jr. goes beyond the call of duty. Itās more surreal and avant-garde than his other work with Keaton plays a wannabe detective who gets to go into the cinema screen and live out his fantasy as a great detective. Like an audience member watching a movie, Keatonās character gets to escape the real world and be what you canāt be in real life. Sherlock Jr. captures the magic of cinema like few other films have and at an economic length of only 44 minutes, itās a film you can pop on any time.
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The special effects on display here blow my mind every time. Just how did he do that stuff? Part of me doesnāt want to know in order to keep the mystery alive. Perhaps a special effect isnāt so special if you look at it and can and immediately know who they did it. CGI can take a back seat! These are true special effects. Keatonās trademark of physical humor and stunt work is on full display here with the film's climactic chase sequence being nothing short of astounding. It is my second favourite high-speed pursuit in a movie after the final car chase in The Blues Brothers. The gags and stunts in this film never cease to amaze me and always take me by surprise no matter how times I watch the film. I also must give props to the fantastic jazzy, noir-like score of the Thames Silentās print of the film, and is it just me or is that James Bond music at exactly 39 minutes and 56 seconds in?
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You know all the clichĆ© terms people throw around in movie reviews: ātimelessā, āclassicā, āahead of its timeā. If there was ever a movie which completely deserved them then this is it.
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Sherlock, Jr. review
Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 17 June 2011 07:190 comments, Reply to this entry