SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

marac This is basically a slideshow with off-screen commentary, disguised as a movie. The story is based on one great, ingenious idea, which has been unfortunately buried under its tedious form. Fortunately almost 30 years later this idea has been resurrected by Terry Gilliam, who filmed the same story in a brilliant movie called "12 Monkeys".I strongly discourage you from watching this short film, if you haven't seen "12 Monkeys" yet. This is the same story and "12 Monkeys" is much much better movie. The plot of both films contains one very powerful suspense, so the film seen as the second one would not have the impact it should have had. Trust me - you don't want to ruin your experience of watching "12 Monkeys" without any knowledge of the plot.I added 4 stars to my rating just for the said ingenious idea. Otherwise, I would give only 1 star, because for me this "film" is just a failed experiment on the verge of watchability.

Galina La jetée (1961) aka The Pier is one of the best, poignant, and most unusual films ever made. The 28 minutes long collection of unbelievably rich, mesmerizing, still black and white images accompanied with the mourning score and sparse narration look inside your very soul while you look at them and they talk to you and reach to all your senses. This is correct - the film used a photo-montage technique but once stated watching, I was so enthralled that I did not think about technical part. The film is simple, poetic, philosophical, and profound. It is an anti war/post-apocalyptic science fiction documentary style and at the same time the ode to love, longing, and to power of memory.Here is the paradox - how can documentary, made of the still black and white images tell the story that would influence every following film about time travel and be the true feast for mind and soul? Well, it has happened in La jetée, and while watching you forget what genre the movie belongs to because it defies the definitions of genres, and you just don't want it to end even though you know from the beginning that this movie will never have a happy ending. Like millions of fascinated viewers I ask myself how that much was achieved with so little. Like an unnamed protagonist of La jetée is marked for life with an unforgettable image from his childhood, the viewer is marked with the still images of the film, especially by only one animated image of awakening in the film that comes like a miracle.I finished earlier this evening re-watching Terry Gilliam's excellent film Twelve Monkeys (1995) for which La jetée was the inspiration. Now when I saw both, I am sure that if it were not for the unspeakably sad, beautiful and moving short film of Chris Marker that suggests that "calling past and future may save the present" and provides the extraordinary emotional impact with the story of return to the most vivid childhood memories again and again, there would be no brilliant and dark visions of Twelve Monkeys. Both films are glorious in their unique way and should be viewed together to be appreciated fully.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) It simply is not working as this is, by definition, not a "motion picture". "La jetée" or "The Pier" is a black-and-white film that runs for slightly under 30 minutes and is over 50 years old now. The writer and director is Chris Marker. Do not be confused by his name for he is as French as this half hour in terms of narration and style. There are references about human experiments, time travel, ruins and the usual components like love, war and death. The way this is made, namely a collection of photos, is probably the main reason why I was not impressed at all. The love story did not touch me and I was not sad when I found out that he is not gonna see her again as his next travels will be to the future. His death at the end felt really rushed as well. i was fairly disappointed with it. The format has proved unappealing enough and that is why directors these days just do normal movies and not photo book stuff like this. Not recommended unless you became curious about it after watching "12 Monkeys".

Dalbert Pringle Directed by French film-maker, Chris Marker, La Jetee is a horribly dry and uninspired Sci-Fi story which takes place at the onset of WW3.There are no spectacular images in this film. There is no dialogue, either.La Jetee's story is told through tedious narration.There is no live action. It is all just b&w stills whose images are recycled more than once.Thank goodness La Jetee was only 27 minutes long (it seemed to drag on for hours).And thank goodness this sort of idiot concept of film-making didn't catch on.La Jetee's story is neither deep nor philosophical. Although I strongly suspect that director Marker believed himself to be creating a real masterpiece of cinematic intellectualism.For me, the only way to watch this dismally dreary picture was in fast-forward mode.