Kliou, the Killer: A strange, Technicolor time capsule

Is this actually worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you like staring at old footage of people who have been dead for a century. If you are looking for a tight plot, turn back now. This isn't Once a Lady; there is no real narrative drive here. But if you want to see what Hollywood thought 'exotic' meant in the early 30s, keep reading.

It is the last silent film from Hollywood, which feels like a weird footnote in history. You can feel the studio trying to hold onto the past while the world was already moving toward sound. It feels lonely, in a way.

That Technicolor look

The two-color process is bizarre. Everything is orange or blue-green. It makes the water look like heavy syrup and the skin tones look like they belong in a dream. It is a bit hypnotic, actually. You forget the plot because you are just staring at the color saturation.

There is this moment where the light hits a group of local performers, and the colors just bleed into each other. It is messy. I loved it.

• The pacing is glacial.
• The staging feels very 'posed' for a documentary.
• The music cues (added later, obviously) are loud as hell.

I found myself comparing it to Adventures in Africa No. 1: Into the Unknown. They share that same 'white guys filming the rest of the world' energy. It is colonial as anything, and you can't really ignore that while you watch. It is uncomfortable, but that is part of the experience of watching these really old things.

There is a scene with a tiger—or maybe it's a leopard, who knows—that goes on for about three minutes too long. You can see the animal looking bored. I was looking bored too. But then, the camera catches this one shot of a face in the crowd, just looking right into the lens. Like they knew we would be watching this 90 years later. Haunting.

It is not a 'good' movie by modern standards. But it is definitely a piece of something. A strange, dusty, orange-tinted something. 🎞️