Watch Parade For Free
Parade
For his final film, Jacques Tati takes his camera to the circus, where the director himself serves as master of ceremonies. Though it features many spectacles, including clowns, jugglers, acrobats, contortionists, and more, Parade also focuses on the spectators, making this stripped-down work a testament to the communion between audience and entertainment.
Release : | 1974 |
Rating : | 6 |
Studio : | Sveriges Radio, gray-film, |
Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Jacques Tati Pia Colombo Bertil Berglund Moniqa Sunnerberg Dominique Lavanant |
Genre : | Comedy TV Movie |
Watch Trailer
Cast List
Related Movies
Reviews
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
"Parade" was the final film directed by Jacques Tati. It was made for television and featured Tati as a clown in a circus. The film was screened at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.As much as it pains me to say something bad about Jacques Tati, this is far from his best work. In fact, it more or less amounts to a televised special about a circus filled with mimes and acrobats. Should it be judged on the same level as the other films he made? No. Because, clearly, it was not intended for the same level of criticism. We do not judge Michael Bay for his milk commercials.Still a bit fun, even if the costumes are so obviously dated as the 1970s.
PARADE is basically the presentation of a circus performance, in which artistes interact with the audience in a series of set pieces - juggling acts, tightrope walks, clowning, balloon fights, plus one or two routines in which Tati demonstrates his remarkable talent for mime. The film's artificialities are evident: we see cardboard cutouts of members of the audience among live-action actors, while the performers sometimes talk to inanimate objects. Tati's purpose, although not overtly stated, seems to be to show how life is like a circus, with all of us indulging in a series of ritualized actions which, although meaningful in themselves, can also be considered absurd. This is definitely true of some of his set-pieces - for example the very funny routine where he imitates a boxer going into a championship bout. However, a series of routines do not necessarily make for an entertaining film: some of the performances involving actors other than Tati are distinctly second- rate, while the audience - when Tati's camera shows them in close-up - sometimes look thoroughly bored with the proceedings, despite the enthusiastic applause on the soundtrack. Judged by his previous oeuvre, PARADE is sadly a very second-rate piece: one feels sad that the great director could not have bowed out on a more positive note.
Tati was really going for something here, but I'm not quite sure what. He's being so subtle here that I couldn't really tell what his point was.The film is all about a circus, with performances by clowns, magicians, acrobats, jugglers, a band, and Jacques Tati. The different scenes vary in worth - the jugglers are awesome, but there's one sequence, where people try to jump on a pony and a donkey, that's very cruel to animals (although it ends wonderfully). One of the bigger disappointments of the film are Jacques Tati's mimes. Not that they're bad, but Tati fans have already seen them all. He impersonates a football player, a boxer, a tennis player, a fisherman, and an equestrian. This is how he first got famous in the 30s and 40s, by impersonating sportsmen, but at 70 something, his miming isn't as great anymore. And we've seen them all the way back to Watch Your Left and up to The Night Course.The action isn't just of the circus performers. Tati also goes behind the scenes of the circus and especially to the audience. A lot of the film, in fact, observes the audience. We get to know several of them as characters.The ending is quite great. It has the same bittersweet tone that all of Tati's endings have. I actually teared up a little, but that was mostly because I knew that this was the last time "Une film de Jacques Tati" would ever appear on screen. I didn't love Parade, but I certainly liked it. 7/10.
No plot - just some middling European circus acts (juggling, tumbling, some musical nonsense, etc.) and Jacques Tati doing some of his cabaret routines. Even Jacques Tati fans may be disappointed. Some will find the Swedish audience's 1970's "hippy" costumes interesting.