Beautiful attention to detail. Touching, actually. And I recommend the movie, "That French Dispatch," which I watched a few weeks ago. I found that "making of" video because I was looking for something specific in that movie, a view of the outside of a multistory building, where you follow a character walking up various stairways, through rooms, up to the top. You can see part of that sequence at 1:00.
I wanted to see that because, just by chance, I was watching the 1958 movie "Mon Oncle" last night, and there's this sequence, which is clearly what "The French Dispatch" was paying homage to:
"The French Dispatch" is a Wes Anderson movie. "Mon Oncle" is Jacques Tati. I did not realize, when I was watching "The French Dispatch," how much of it was done with miniatures. I have no idea how Jacques Tati made his movies. I'm not sure I want to know! Maybe there should be a spoiler alert on that "Miniature effects" video, because it would be better not to know what, exactly, you're looking at. The old saying is that it's better not to know how sausage is made.
I don't like to use clichés, but I'm saying "better not to know how sausage is made" because it fits with something in "Mon Oncle." Obscure humor at 5 in the morning. It shouldn't be obscure.
You can stream "Mon Oncle" on the Criterion Channel.
FIXED: The second video is now the right one. I'd had the first video repeated. I deeply regret this mistake!
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Stranger than Fiction (2006) Will Ferrel as IRS employee has some of the Jacques Tati vibe.
Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle are both on youtube
Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot was a big influence on Rowan Atkinson when he created Mr. Bean.
Mon Oncole and Playtime were both great. I have not seen Hulot's Holiday. I am amazed at the detail to Tati's direction in his movies. I think about how much rehearsal to get those choreographic moves directed and just...so.
I've not been able to make it through 'The French Dispatch'. I'll have to give it another try. Wes Anderson's movies always have so much promise but seem to turn out to just be an itch he had to get scratched.
You need to watch "The Stunt Man" with Peter O'Toole as a director on movie set in WWI. The stunt man is killed in an accident, and an escaped convict (Steve Railsback) assumes his role. You never know what Peter O'Toole is really trying to do in the movie, he seems to be trying to kill his new stunt man, but at the same time getting fantastic performance from him.
The movie highlights some of the tricks used, like King Kong being only 3'6" tall. That fact is repeated through the movie as encouragement for the new stunt man.
Well worth watching, especially for O'Toole's performance.
The artistry required in creating the miniature buildings, etc is truly remarkable. But I couldn't help but be struck by how unnecessary those kinds of skills are for that purpose. I guess that's true for all of art. To give monetary value to art is a choice made by individuals or a society that has what it considers disposable income.
That Youtube clip is like those "People are Amazing" videos. It's unbelievable that people can do that. The craftsmanship that goes into those miniatures is incredible. How do they fabricate that little cement mixer and Citroen 2CV?
What happens to all the miniatures after the movie? Some billionaire should buy all of them for a gigantic museum.
I made it through The French Dispatch, but it took several tries. The movie was a lot smarter than me and knew a lot more about The New Yorker than I did. I couldn't figure out if it was a homage or satire or what. Was that some kind of caricature of Janet Flanner and, if so, who would recognize a caricature of Janet Flanner?....I wouldn't be surprised if it was a very good movie and that my reservations about it are reflective more of my denseness than the movie's intricacy. I didn't like movie all that much, but I wasn't antagonistic towards it.
The Rock Star Rod Stewart does this sort of thing in his spare time. The article says he "built the skyscrapers while on tour".
And here I thought he was taking his pick of the groupies in the wee hours...
It's quite remarkable.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50403561
Love the minis, but that music! Aaarrgh.
If the whole movie is like that I'll have to pass.
Amazing that I was alive when Mon Oncle was filmed, but it seems so long ago.
I just watched Drive My Car. Set in a gleaming, modern Hiroshima. At some point I realized, of course everything in the city is so modern....(first film I've watched with people wearing masks under covid. Everything else i've seen filmed in last few years does not have masks)
“Was that scene an homage to…”
“Nah, we just stole it.”
Some movie I can’t remember which may have involved Mel Brooks.
Mon Oncle is also on HBOMax. I think they have some sort of arrangement with Criterion.
That "French Dispatch Miniature Effects" video led to a whole cascade of "'Movie xxx' miniature effects" documentaries on YouTube.
So much for my Saturday afternoon.
What the hell, I had no big plans ...
Anyway, I learned that while Paul Anderson uses more miniatures than most, there are a hell of a lot of special-effects-laden movies that use them too. It's not all CGI, not even close.
Oh, and +100 on "The Stunt Man", one of my favourites. Learned about it from an ecstatic rave review by Pauline Kael. Peter O'Toole did an interview where he said, in the role of the "director" he wasn't really acting in that movie, he was just doing his impersonation of David Lean directing a young Peter O'Toole in "Lawrence of Arabia". A kind of party trick he would do to make his friends laugh. Couldn't believe he was getting paid to do it.
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