Sherlock Jr.
Pixelmatsch is so busy and responsible about blogging the Berlinale these days, it makes me wonder whether it is even appropriate to interrupts this stream of much more exciting postings than I could ever write at home.
“Sherlock Jr.” is fairly highly ranked in the TSPDT 1000 films list, and it’s Buster Keaton’s second most acclaimed film after “The General”. That doesn’t sound too good, because I thought the film was largely… simplistic. But “The General” is the very reason why I find it hard to assess a Buster Keaton film. I remember having seen it twice – once at home on a DVD I bought cheaply, and once in movie theaters. When I was at home, I thought the film was rather silly and boring, but in the movie theater filled with laughter I was fully concentrated on all those funny details in the film, and I love the movie until today. “The General” was probably one of the most enjoyable cinematic experiences I have ever had, and the very reason why movie theaters must never die.
Similarly, I was quite distracted while “Sherlock Jr.”, especially around the first 15 minutes when I was still wondering whether this was going to be a comedy. It is the elongated dream sequence which really stands out in this film, but overall it’s just an inconsequential dream sequence, essentially a big parenthesis. So I can see that this film would be a lot of fun when watching it with the right people or in the right atmosphere, but it certainly was not for me on a lonely afternoon.
I am a fan of Buster Keaton (heck I want to cosplay as him and make a flat hat like that!) but in a complicated way. There are tons of his films I want to see, yet I don’t really want to see them for fear of the disappointment. What to do?