Taris

A commissioned short meant to show off renowned swimmer Jean Taris and demonstrate his technique, but it's more of interest in demonstrating Vigo's technique. The photography is absolutely gorgeous, especially the underwater parts. As a celebration of physicality, it looks forward to Riefenstahl's OLYMPIA, showcasing the various graceful feats the human body is capable of, using sensuous close-ups and slow motion. It's undeniably a minor work thematically (not to mention narratively) but it is a lovely bit of craftsmanship, punctuated with some nice bits of humor, including an ending that will look awfully familiar to fans of BEING THERE.

Jean Vigo takes a short time of our lives to present something that impresses us for a long time with the short documentary "Taris, roi de l'eau" and he does that with a boundless simplicity. In ten minutes, he presents Taris, a famous swimmer showing the different swimming techniques and Vigo's camera gives us details on the movements of the swimmer on the water, everything very impressive.

The ordinary viewer will find nothing special about it but to me I find quite interesting the way images of a not so simple act has the ability of being translated to the screen in a enormous facility, swimming looks so easy (yeah, of course he's a trained swimmer but still) and it really makes you want to get out and swim for a while. It's that impressive, it's that beautiful. Some of the techniques Vigo used here like reversing the image backwards when the swimmer is jumping on the pool were very innovative at the time and quite funny now, but even so it's cool to see it.

Considering that today's short films have more substance and more things to present, and with all these advantage sometimes they fail to really grab our attention even for five minutes is that I look back to something like "Taris, roi de l'eau" ("Taris, King of the Water") and I think how moved and impressed I was with such a simple work of art. That's the role of art in everything: take the most ordinary thing of life and make of it something beautiful. Vigo really did it here. 10/10

Essentially a 'how-to-swim' piece that, in the hands of someone less talented and individualistic than Jean Vigo, would have been forgotten years ago, Taris is transformed by the director's unique and original imagination into something much more. He captures some terrific underwater shots of Taris swimming and horsing around, and manages to add a few trademark surreal touches and camera trickery to ensure that the viewer's interest never wanes. It is still essentially a film about swimming, but it manages to capture both Taris's mastery of his sport and his enthusiasm for it. Worth a watch if you have a spare ten minutes.

I recently viewed a rather good student film that explored "liquid memories," by setting the imagination in the mild ocean. It reminded me that it was time to re-view the films that first got the sleeve of my imagination caught in the machinery of cinema, those films that explore architectural water.

Of them, I believe this to be the first. (If I am wrong, please let me know.)

This is ostensibly a film about a man in his water kingdom. He gives a "tour," as if the kingdom were defined by how you move and breath, and there is a rather clumsy bit at the end where he walks into the waterworld in his "ordinary" suit.

But where it shines is in how it depicts that world, glimmering, swirling. Sometimes, even though you know what you are looking at, you cannot get your own bearings. You cannot see exactly where you are. this business of immersion and world-definition is important -- I think -- to how we understand all worlds in film.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Jean Vigo films the talents of great swimming champion Jean Taris performing different acts. Vigo film technique allied with Taris swimming style are intertwined with grace and effect.

Some of this might have been a bit risqué, at least it would have been to Americans, but it is an interesting use of underwater photography and captures its subject well. I don't know Jean Taris, but then again, I wasn't around in 1930s France. I imagine he was a big deal and something a hero. Certainly, in this capacity, his body and movements are an art form.

Of the few things Vigo did, this might be the one that stands out. It doesn't offer class commentary or suggest anarchism. It's not the masterpiece of his short career. It is just a simple -- but effective -- look at a great athlete.