My, my, my, what an interesting week it has been. You could even call it a roller-coaster, although that terminology might not fit very well considering it's been mostly positive, positive, positive, and only slightly negative towards the end. Perhaps more like one of those rides that lifts you up and and then drops you?? Ah wait, I keep forgetting, you guys haven't actually been to Earth before. Right, well moving on then...
Earlier in the week, on Monday, I had a nice day off work (it was appreciation for workers day I believe) and it caused my work schedule at the school to sync up quite nicely - that was the first positive. Next, on Thursday, there was a training day, where a colleague and I went to a large hall and were taught how to effectively teach little Earthlings. There were a few interesting bits, but most excitingly, after the training was over, my colleague and I decided to go up the second tallest man-made structure in the entire world: the Tokyo Sky Tree. Seriously, it was incredible... the view from the top was unbelievable, and the lift was so fast, something crazy like 150 floors in 50 seconds. Seeing Earth from that high up reminded me of our Hyperstructures on TX4, so that was really nice. Even had a glass floor for part of it, so you could look down and imagine yourself standing above nothing but air... very unnerving, especially when you have noisy little Earthlings jumping up and down on it!! Now after that, on Saturday, the same colleague and I went to an art exhibition in a fancy area of Tokyo (Roppongi Hills if you are interested) which again, was mesmerising. There was actually more detail in some of those paintings that it was even possible for human eyes to detect, so I was thoroughly impressed. My favourite piece was a series of paintings consisting of hundreds of canvasses side-by-side, spanning a total length of over 100m, depicting 500 uniquely designed ancient Japanese monks (or Arhats). Everything that happened this week was going so well... until today.
Apparently - and this is according to the other alien I met with recently - upon returning to TX4 (or any planet by the sounds of it) there is a system in place which punishes you for leaving. Not very nice is it? According to this alien, the current system in place decrees that only stays of two years or more on foreign planets are exempt from the TX4 gains fees... so essentially my mission will cost me somewhere in the region of 4000*'* upon my return. Damn, it's actually really hard to type anything remotely similar to the TX4 currency symbol using an Earth keyboard! Very disgusting, isn't it though? Expecting me to pay gains fees upon my triumphant return, having successfully procured this planet's film database... why punish me like that? Now I am wondering if it's worth staying an extra year just to avoid the stupid gains fees.
Tsk, I dunno, it's just a shame that my mission is only scheduled to last for one year... but anyway, on that subject...
[5/52 Modern Times]
Charlie Chaplin was a very famous and important actor and filmmaker in the 1930s it seems. Apparently this film was the last silent film he made, and indeed the final film starring his most iconic character, 'The Tramp'. Looking at this film in the same way as the previous movies is incredibly difficult - for a start, any kind of cohesive plot is totally secondary to sheer humour, lending this film an almost sketch show-like quality. Even within one scene, things will just happen for no reason besides being slapstick, or characters will do crazy, unbelievable things for visual effect. Not that this is bad per se, just very different.
Did I enjoy it? As an experience yes, but as a film, not so much. Really, the film has quite a simple plot - our hero 'The Tramp' works in a factory, but goes mad (I'm guessing for no real reason other than for some visual jokes), and after getting fired ends up in prison due to a misunderstanding. Then we meet 'The Gamin', a beautiful but poor woman who steals food in order for her family to survive, but after her husband is randomly killed and her children are taken into protective custody, she escapes and lives on the streets. Over at the prison, The Tramp helps foil a prison break, and so is freed, but he has difficulty keeping a job and finds himself wanting to go back to jail. During a delivery at the bakery, The Gamin attempts to steal a loaf of bread, but when she is caught, The Tramp (who happened to be passing by) takes the blame. After both of them are arrested, the police van they are riding in on the way to prison crashes, and they escape. Yearning for a normal life together with a proper house (and a live cow to provide fresh milk!), the two of them head back into town where The Tramp manages to secure a job as a night watchman for a department store. He lets The Gamin into the store that night, and they eat cakes, mess around with toys and relax in luxurious beds (I actually really love this part of the film, not because I found it particularly funny or clever, but just because I really enjoyed watching two characters with so little get to appreciate elements of a quality life - the whole sentiment of having a happy experience that you can cherish being worth more than money I found to be very touching). On the ground floor, theives break into the building, and while The Gamin sleeps, The Tramp confronts them, only to find that one of them is his former colleague from the factory. When the morning comes, The Tramp is arrested for letting the theives break in, and after 10 days in prison, he and The Gamin move into a tiny wooden house by a shallow river which is falling apart. News arrives that the factories are reopening, and The Tramp rushes off to get another job - this time assisting a mechanic making repairs to the machinery, but he somehow manages to accidentally trap the engineer in mechanism, and is soon arrested yet again. It just so happens that The Gamin finds work dancing in a restaurant, and when The Tramp is released from prison two weeks later, he joins her at the restaurant as a 'singing waiter' despite being unable to sing. Causing havoc as a waiter (involving a fun scene where he tries to take a meal to a table during a dance), The Tramp is forced to sing, and puts on an entertaining show despite singing entirely in gobbledygook. Earning himself a steady job as a result of his song, everything looks as though it will finally work out, but unfortunately the police finally catch up with The Gamin, and they flee. As they sit by the side of an empty highway the next morning, The Gamin bursts into tears, and wonders if there is even any point in trying... to which he replies "buck up - never say die, we'll get along!" and two of them walk off hand in hand as it fades to black.
Now as I said before, this is an enjoyable experience, but not necessarily a great film... it definitely requires a different mindset to really appreciate it for what it is. Directed by, starring, and even featuring music composed by Charlie Chaplin, this film was his farewell to the silent era of films, and as such, it does include some small pieces of sound (most notably through tele-screens and radios, which is certainly a comment on the rise to prominence of technology at the time this film was made way back in 1936). Some of the things that I liked about this film are the acting, the music and the little touches which made the story feel more engaging and the characters feel more real. Of course, the film would be outright boring without the fantastic main actors - indeed, it is an entirely different style of acting required for silent films, but Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard are remarkably expressive, enthusiastic and fun to watch. The music is lovely, if a tad repetitive at times, but based on multiple viewings I think it manages to capture the emotions of the film with a subtle delicacy. However I should probably say that overall I thought the sound editing was a little bit choppy at times - extremely sudden cuts in music, or arbitrary silence when a recorded sound was being played... not much they could have done at the time, but it did spoil some parts a tiny bit. Overall, the thing I liked the most was the attention to detail with very small, quick parts of the film... as an example, the opening shot showing a herd of sheep running towards the camera, seamlessly fading to a herd of businessmen doing the exact same thing, made me think 'oh, what lovely editing!' and 'oh, what a simple yet visually memorable way to start a film which centres around the theme of industry and it's affect on society' (or you know, something like that). Use of tracking shots and CGI is abundant in the newer films I have reviewed, but in Modern Times, there is almost no actual camera motion - only pivots - which makes the necessarily creative shot composition thoroughly marvellous. Great little touches like the screen dimming to a black but illuminating a single character of note... it only happens once in this film, and it is over in less than a second, but it is an interesting effect, and really added to my immersion.
However I have saved my favourite thing for last - the automatic feeding machine. This scene is only about 7 minutes into the film, and hardly needs any context, but my goodness I found it funny. For all the dated slapstick and weird humour that just doesn't have the same resonance as it once did, this one scene just makes the film... if you are interested in giving this film a go, I highly recommend you watch it until this scene at least!!
Uhhh anyway, so that brings me to the end of my review of a film which is very nearly 80 years old - I don't know if I would say it is objectively one of the 'best' films, but as an experience of the 1930s, as a relic of dated humour (plus the one scene which had me in hysterics), as a wonderful demonstration of how much can be done using limited camera technology and as a showcase for such brilliant actors... it should be considered a classic. Let me know if you decide to watch it, and tell me what you think, but for now, this is MuiXViuM signing off.
