A classic

Even though I grew up watching the movies of Charles Chaplin, I have to admit I had been rather oblivious regarding Buster Keaton for a very long time and I discovered his work much later as an adult. Well, to be honest, so far, after watching around 5 of his movies, I can’t say I have become a huge fan of Buster Keaton's work. However, since this movie had a rather stellar reputation, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. Indeed, the damned thing was just a total blast and easily one of the best silent comedies I have seen so far. Indeed, as usual with Keaton, the whole thing was quite random but, in the contrary to his other movies, it actually did work fine here. Basically, most of the duration was just a dream but it didn't stop here as they also gave us a 'movie within a movie'. In fact, it was probably the first time this gimmick was ever used but it was visually quite clever and I thought it was actually very well done. Anyway, from the moment Keaton went through this screen, pretty much everything became possible and it became one of the most freewheeling movie experiences I ever had. Indeed, it was just so wild and I don't how many times I was gasping at the insane scenes that Keaton gave us combining some magic tricks, some marvelous daredevil stunts and even some awesome pool trick shots. There were a couple of times I seriously had no clue how they actually pulled it off. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing definitely deserves his awesome reputation, it is, in my opinion, Buster Keaton's magnum opus and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.


9/10