Friday, October 14, 2016

Pierre Etaix

Clown, comedian, and filmmaker -- via The Stopru. A very interesting talent. A throwback to the silent-film days, due in part to his devotion to slapstick and visual humor, and iin part to his decades of experience as a live comic performer. His deadpan style and his physical agility makes him seem like a derivative of Keaton, and his precise, mannered, sometimes twee style may swiftly drive some viewers crazy. But there is more of Samuel Beckett than Billy Bevan in his work -- there is a patient despair that somehow fuels his hapless characters' efforts, instead of impeding them. And his images surreal and perverse present an anarchic alternative to the boring, impossible challenges reality presents.