I don't want to say that this movie was totally crappy and should definitely not be seen. It IS interesting to watch for people who are interested in film history, in that what we call "Avantgarde", or experimental movies, with an interesting thought behind it. This is "La Jetée", but it is nothing more. Definitely it is no masterpiece, I wouldn't even call it art, because it is such a "mess", like someone said before me. I'll tell you the reason for my negative opinion.
First, it should be obvious that there are undoubted differences between still pictures and moving ones, in their structure as in their way of "telling" something. So if you put some photos together, all you get is a boring, poetically uninteresting movie. Alright, so it's not meant to be a film at all but a "photo-novel". First, then you could print it, make a book out of it, with pictures and a text. Why did Marker choose to make it as a movie? I don't know and it is really not important. The problem is, that the photos shown in this, as it is some kind of flowing pictures I'll rather call it like the following, movie are really put to a confusing mix. If there is a picture, showing the typical structure of a photo, the next one seems to be a single still photo, taking from an actually continuing movie. So neither could you call it an arrangement of good photos nor a good movie, as still pictures with the mise en scene, the maybe poetic, but in any case specific structure of a movie, have no life, no importance, they are just insignificant! It's like taking one single tone out of a symphony. It can not live without the rest, the work of art as a whole. So seeing this confusing mix, as I called it, I couldn't think of it as one thing, never mind what it is meant to be, I couldn't see it as a unified piece of work, not to speak of art. That's the first reason why I would go so far to call it a failed experiment.
The second is the plot which, in my opinion, tells too much of this kind of aftermath, a thing which we have seen in enough other movies. Maybe not at the point of its release, but art should always be relevant, doesn't it? The story of this man is pretty interesting, and the end also seemed really good, not only in comparison to the rest of the movie but in comparison to this man, his story, taking away from the rest of the film. Anyway, my point was the style of putting photos together, not the plot.
I am sorry for accusing the movie of such a bad way of making, as Chris Marker was kind of an interesting man, as it seems. I have to confess that I didn't watch any other movies/documentaries of him, but what I saw in "La Jetée" is enough to tell of him as a man with only good intentions, I guess. And that's why I give 6 points, to emphasize it as better than things like "Avatar".
First, it should be obvious that there are undoubted differences between still pictures and moving ones, in their structure as in their way of "telling" something. So if you put some photos together, all you get is a boring, poetically uninteresting movie. Alright, so it's not meant to be a film at all but a "photo-novel". First, then you could print it, make a book out of it, with pictures and a text. Why did Marker choose to make it as a movie? I don't know and it is really not important. The problem is, that the photos shown in this, as it is some kind of flowing pictures I'll rather call it like the following, movie are really put to a confusing mix. If there is a picture, showing the typical structure of a photo, the next one seems to be a single still photo, taking from an actually continuing movie. So neither could you call it an arrangement of good photos nor a good movie, as still pictures with the mise en scene, the maybe poetic, but in any case specific structure of a movie, have no life, no importance, they are just insignificant! It's like taking one single tone out of a symphony. It can not live without the rest, the work of art as a whole. So seeing this confusing mix, as I called it, I couldn't think of it as one thing, never mind what it is meant to be, I couldn't see it as a unified piece of work, not to speak of art. That's the first reason why I would go so far to call it a failed experiment.
The second is the plot which, in my opinion, tells too much of this kind of aftermath, a thing which we have seen in enough other movies. Maybe not at the point of its release, but art should always be relevant, doesn't it? The story of this man is pretty interesting, and the end also seemed really good, not only in comparison to the rest of the movie but in comparison to this man, his story, taking away from the rest of the film. Anyway, my point was the style of putting photos together, not the plot.
I am sorry for accusing the movie of such a bad way of making, as Chris Marker was kind of an interesting man, as it seems. I have to confess that I didn't watch any other movies/documentaries of him, but what I saw in "La Jetée" is enough to tell of him as a man with only good intentions, I guess. And that's why I give 6 points, to emphasize it as better than things like "Avatar".