Judex 34: A Bizarre Trip Through Time

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Only if you have a massive soft spot for old-school serials and don't mind feeling a bit lost. If you need a clear plot or modern pacing, stay far away. You will probably hate this if you get bored by stiff acting and weirdly specific, dated theatrics. But if you like seeing how movies used to be built like a collection of disjointed stage plays, you might find some charm here.

Judex 34 feels less like a movie and more like a collection of things happening in rooms. It’s got that classic silent-film energy where everyone is emoting at 110% just to make sure the back row gets the message. 🎭

Sometimes, the mask-wearing hero shows up, and the whole mood shifts. It’s weird. It’s definitely not as smooth as The Invisible Bond, which handled its own brand of mystery with a lot more grace. Here, everything feels a bit dusty.

There’s a scene where a character just stands by a curtain for what feels like five full minutes. I checked my watch. Why? I have no clue. Maybe the director just really liked the fabric. It’s those tiny, strange choices that make this feel like a real time capsule.

The pacing is all over the place. One minute we’re sprinting through a kidnapping, and the next we’re watching someone eat soup. It reminded me of the uneven vibe in The House Built Upon Sand, where you’re never quite sure if the movie knows what it’s doing or if it’s just making it up as it goes.

Some observations:

• The lighting is incredibly harsh, like they were trying to bleach the film with the lamps.
• The costumes look like they were pulled straight from a theater trunk in 1910.
• I think someone forgot to tell the extras to stop looking at the camera.

I found myself zoning out and just looking at the furniture. The chairs in these scenes are genuinely impressive. If you like mid-thirties interior design, this is a masterpiece.

It’s not trying to be a deep meditation on anything. It just wants to get from point A to point B without losing its hat. It barely succeeds. Yet, there’s something weirdly comforting about it. It doesn’t feel like it was made by a committee or a focus group. It feels like someone just said, 'Let's put Judex in a room and see what happens.' Sometimes that's enough.