Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a haunting 28 minutes. The world has just been through World War III and nuclear weapons have doomed everyone. This takes place in Paris and the city is rubble. Winners and losers (actually all losers) are living underground. The scientists are using the others as Guinea pigs to try to figure out a way to travel back in time and correct the mistakes. One young man is a prime choice to do the job. As his memory is probed he goes back to a moment on a pier (La Jetee) where he tried to see a woman with whom he had fallen in love. He creates a narrative in his mind. What it does is create a kind of loop that will probably prove unproductive. It's probably like the people that will be left after it is too late at some future time, especially if they were complicit in the destruction, desperately trying to come up with a last straw to grasp. What we have, however, is one more shot of cruelty toward the people already victimized. I hope I'm wrong, but I kind of see the whole climate thing and the ozone layer being our World War III. That aside, this picture shows us some of the beauty that was there before the arrogance of some would eventuate our demise and with it the love and kindness that is really what the human condition should be about. I haven't even mentioned how incredibly creative this film is, using black and white still photographs to tell the story. Images of joy and pain and resilience.

"La Jette" is a strange short film, that many are familiar to the fact that it inspired the Terry Gilliam film "12 Monkeys". It centers on the hypothetical aftermath of World War III. It is assumed that the world had been scorched by nuclear weaponry, as we see a young man strapped down and blindfolded by a group of ominous scientists in an underground refuge. What the man is being subjected to is a time machine that sends him back to the time, and his mission is to collect goods, and send them back to the present day in order to feed the survivors of the war. He is sent back to the near moment when his life ended, and all he remembers seeing is a strikingly beautiful young woman, standing over a pier while an unknown man falls to his death. Instead of following orders, the man stalks the female throughout the city of Paris, in order to figure out why he remembers her, and what significance she has to him before the bomb hit. What happens is quite lovely actually. You see, the man begins to talk to the young woman, and they begin a pleasant Parisian love affair. Needless to say, this makes the underground scientists none too pleased. For several times over, the scientists keep sending the man back to the beginning of the time warp in order to complete the mission, only for the man to keep pursuing the young lady every time. The two inter-dimensional lovebirds even manage to squeeze in a museum visit, where they gaze at the wonders of the animal kingdom. Hey, even in a time warp, you have to stop and smell the roses. After many attempts, the scientists play a trick and send the young man to a strange, scary future that warns him of the consequences of a malnourished society. The people where black clothing, and stare deeply into his eyes. Do you think that would scare him into doing the right thing? Of course not! He's got to get the girl. Angry about his failure, the scientists bring him back to the past, to meet the girl, only to have him assassinated by another time traveler. In the end, he suffered the exact same fate as the man he saw before the war. He was the fallen man from his own past. All this is shown in glorious frames per second… no not 24, just frames. Like a slideshow gone horribly wrong, the story progresses through images, which coincide with the fact that Marker himself is an acclaimed photographer. Does it even matter in the end? Not for me. I was deeply invested in every moment of this great short film. As a matter of fact, in the genre of Science Fiction, I don't think I've ever seen a finer film. Marker masterfully places fear in the hearts of his viewers. Whatever future we have to look forward to, it looks awfully bleak for Marker. There is nothing to look forward to, but the imminent arrival of a nuclear holocaust. As with many films in tune with "Nouvelle Vague", the politics are visibly liberal. "La Jette" is an early anti-war picture. In the wake of WWII, and the arms race happening in Europe, Marker constructed a film that allowed us to think about the social and physical implications of nuclear war. In the process, he allows an intimate look at the past, and how our main character, keeps trying to hang onto it as long as he can, for tomorrow is hopeless. The woman he seeks is in itself, a metaphor for peace and good memories. Good memories are precious, and beautiful, and visceral. When you think about good memories, you want to plant yourself back in time and relive them. We sympathize with our main character, and we feel for him when he dies in the end. I believe the moral of it all is to remember what thrived before, and try to prevent what this film tried to envision for our future, which consists of nothing.

This is one of these movies you wind up watching in film classes, and it's considered a great classic. Unfortunately, it's pretty tedious. It is essentially an illustrated sci-fi short story made up (almost) entirely of still images. This is an admittedly original approach to movie making, but not an especially engaging process.While leisurely told, the real issue for me with the film is it's not a very good sci-fi story. I was immersed from childhood in science-fiction (my dad taught a college literature course devoted to it) and the story struck me as trite and predictable. Admittedly, I saw it 20 years after it came out (in the 1970s), so the story might have seemed more original at the time, but all-in-all this is sub-par Twilight Zone fare given artistic appeal through it's presentation.There is one stunning moment in the movie, and it's such an interesting moment (you'll know it when you see it), and one that is only possible if the film is made just as it is, then arguably it's a good thing for a film student to see. But it's very dull.

To give more meaning to my review, this is one of about five films that I have given ten stars out of the hundreds I've rated. La Jetee is about the only art film I recommend widely. It does not indulge in vague artistry, cryptic and boring wanderings which you are left to decipher. La Jetee if it is anything, is a highly tuned piece of film engineered to lead any viewer in the right mindset on a carefully planed emotional journey. There's no filler; it's only 28 minutes. All of the "artsy" features of the film, especially the photo-montage style are executed with a very clear intention in the task of stirring up within the viewer a strong emotion... ***How to watch this movie***Might be useful if you are not used to art films. Take in La Jetee still after still. Let each image (and especially *the* image of the woman) wash over your mind in context of the story being told. Don't try to understand every detail, but do try to understand the story (which can be confusing since it involves time travel). Most of all be open to feeling, maybe even crying. This might mean it is better watch alone where there is no pressure to keep it together. This film is best if you let it tear you apart.