An old man (Buster Keaton) runs through the city, trying to hide his
face from everyone, even from the camera that's following him (meaning us,
the audience). Even when he has reached his appartment he's far from
happy, throwing out his cat and dog, covering up his mirror, his bird's
cage and his fish's aquarium just to not be sen by them. He also tears up
a picture on the wall just because it shows a man staring, as well as some
old family photos because everyone in them has eyes. It's only then that
he feels safe and falls asleep in his armchair, when the all-seeing eye
(the movie camera or in fact the audience) sneaks up to him from behind,
and when he looks his nemesis in the eye, it proves to be himself. The
fact that Buster Keaton acts almost entirely with his back turned to the
camera might seem weird at first, and the fact that the film was shot
almost entirely silent (no score, no sound effects) doesn't initially help
to understand the on-screen goings-on, but towards the end, everything
falls together, and the film makes sense in its own weird way. And veteran
slapstick comedian Buster Keaton manages to carry the movie even with his
back turned to the audience ... yet this film is less Keaton's work and
more that of famed stagewriter Samuel Beckett (whose first screenplay this
was), even if he has written the script specifically with Keaton in mind.
However, Film is less about elaborate slapstick routines and more
about the absurdity of life, and thus it might be alienating to old-school
Keaton-fans, but it might not be among Beckett's best works, it's still
strangely fascinating.
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