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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you like old travel reels, you'll probably enjoy this. If you need a movie to keep you awake with thrills or a tight script, you'll be bored to tears within five minutes. It is a slow, quiet walk through a version of Paris that doesn't really exist anymore.
E.M. Newman just kind of points the camera at stuff. Sometimes it's a busy market, other times it's just a random fountain. It feels less like a produced film and more like someone found a box of old footage in an attic. Honestly? I kind of like that.
There is no music to guide you here. Just the hum of the projector—or the silence of your own living room. The transitions are non-existent, just jump cuts that make you feel like you're blinking between street corners. It is weirdly hypnotic.
I found myself staring at the clothes people were wearing in the background. Someone is always adjusting their hat or looking directly into the lens, looking confused. It makes you realize how much things have changed, and yet, how much they stayed the same.
The whole thing feels a bit like Youthful Folly in terms of its amateurish, charming energy. It doesn't try to impress you with high-art framing. It just wants to show you a bridge, then a cat, then a guy selling bread. 🥐
It gets a bit repetitive near the end. You start to recognize the same types of street vendors, and the novelty wears off. I checked my watch once or twice. But then a stray dog walked across the frame and I was hooked again.
Don't look for a hidden message. There isn't one. It is just a record of a sunny day in Paris. Sometimes that is exactly what you need to clear your head after watching something heavy like Ledige Mütter.
It's not a masterpiece. It's barely a movie. But it's a nice little glimpse, I guess.