The Time Travel Movie That Doesn’t Go Anywhere

So first of all, before you watch this analysis of Chris Marker’s fantastic La Jetée, you should watch the film itself if you’ve never seen it. It’s 28 minutes long, entirely in black & white, and is a “speculative fiction masterpiece” done with “422 photos, a voiceover, and a score”. You can find it streaming at Amazon, Apple, Criterion Channel, or Kanopy. You will not regret it. And then come back and watch this analysis/appreciation by Evan Puschak.

• Chris Marker
• Evan Puschak
• film school
• La Jetee
• movies
• time travel
• video

La Jetee

After getting an email from a reader last week (thx, david), I poked around a little and found the cult French film on YouTube:

Some notes on the film:

• It was made in 1962 by Chris Marker and is only 28 minutes long.
• La Jetée is regularly included on all-time best-of lists.
• The film has no dialogue and is almost entirely comprised of still photography.
• Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys was based in part on La Jetée.

• Chris Marker
• La jetee
• movies
• Twelve Monkeys