Miraculously enough we have these films not only on DVD but on Blu-ray, courtesy of the Criterion Collection. Considering that we'll never know what Vigo would have done after "L'Atalante" (1934), it's somehow gratifying that also his smaller works such as this and "Taris, roi de l'eau" (1931) receive such meticulous attention, because by no means are his two first films, despite the canonical status of both "Zéro de conduite" (1933) and "L'Atalante", worthless efforts and merely valuable in retrospect.
An independent film in the true sense of the word (financed with the dowry Vigo received), there's something cosmically exuberant in the whole thing. It reminds me quite a lot of Welles' first film, "The Hearts of Age" (1934). Both films, by accident, might be shrugged off as first baby steps of a soon-blossoming genius, but they're both fine projections of cinematic ambition and energy. This film's raw form gives it an edge of aggression, and it swerves from moments of enormous zest to quiet reflection.
On the Criterion there's a very good audio commentary by Michael Temple. He sees in the film a typical French essayist approach in terms of structuralization, consisting of an introduction (a general introduction to theme/location with aerial shots of Nice), thesis (shots of bourgeois, rich people walking around) and antithesis (the poor), leading up to a synthesis (the carnival). This does justice to Vigo's ideas of social cinema, I think, and is helpful in understanding the film's rhythm. Also nice are Temple's notions on the visual gags, which there are aplenty. This underlines what I love about cinema and Vigo: it's a visual medium, and to enable film to be film is to allow the thinking and hence exposition to be visual.
One is left wondering what Vigo would've done had he lived longer. But that which we have, we cherish.
An independent film in the true sense of the word (financed with the dowry Vigo received), there's something cosmically exuberant in the whole thing. It reminds me quite a lot of Welles' first film, "The Hearts of Age" (1934). Both films, by accident, might be shrugged off as first baby steps of a soon-blossoming genius, but they're both fine projections of cinematic ambition and energy. This film's raw form gives it an edge of aggression, and it swerves from moments of enormous zest to quiet reflection.
On the Criterion there's a very good audio commentary by Michael Temple. He sees in the film a typical French essayist approach in terms of structuralization, consisting of an introduction (a general introduction to theme/location with aerial shots of Nice), thesis (shots of bourgeois, rich people walking around) and antithesis (the poor), leading up to a synthesis (the carnival). This does justice to Vigo's ideas of social cinema, I think, and is helpful in understanding the film's rhythm. Also nice are Temple's notions on the visual gags, which there are aplenty. This underlines what I love about cinema and Vigo: it's a visual medium, and to enable film to be film is to allow the thinking and hence exposition to be visual.
One is left wondering what Vigo would've done had he lived longer. But that which we have, we cherish.