For today I managed to find a silent film which works perfectly as "Buon Anno" means "Happy New Year". In the street, he runs into more
"Buon Anno" is an Italian short from 1909.
The "plot" - you can hardly call it that - is told very quickly.
New Year's Day. A man is getting
ready to go out and looking
forward to it. He has put on some
scent, has had his coffee, and
he's in a good mood.
Not even out of the house yet, he's
offered calendars by the servant
and the mailman who on this
occasion expect a tip.
The more people push for a
New Year's tip, the more aggravated
the man gets. The concierge gets a
tip, but he throws the calendar on the
the ground. At the café, he's so annoyed
that he knocks over the table. At the
barber's he shoves the two men.
people trying to escape the Happy
New Year wishes and they all chase
after him (turning this into a classic
chase film), even after the police
turns up to take him away.
He starts having hallucinations
about all those people carrying
calendars ... 
... and the images even follow
him to the police station.
Finally, he's allowed to go, but not
before one last calendar pops up.
On one page it said that "obsession lurks in the symbolic places of the bourgeois social ritual" and that "time doesn't stop and chases us everywhere".
Maybe I'm too simple a person, but I don't see this short as more than a man being annoyed by the tradition of people expecting a tip at certain times. I remember one time years ago when someone rang my bell on Christmas Eve yelling "Mail" only to then "notice" that they didn't even have mail for me. It was the first time they ever rang, and although I am usually a tipper, I was stubborn in that particular case. So I kind of get that the man was overwhelmed (who was played by Ernesto Vaser, one of the first Italian film comedians).
I like what I think might be a little homage to Georges Méliès near the end with the moon winking at the man over the dancing calendar leaves (done in stop-motion).
I wish you all a very Buon Anno, Frohes Neues Jahr, Happy New Year!
Sources:
1. JEC: Buon Anno ! (1909) Happy New Year. On: A Cinema History, October 2023
2. Museo Nazionale del Cinema: Restaurations - Silent Films - Buon anno!
Wow! That’s a deep interpretation of the film! I like yours much better. My son had the same experience with his mailman…never saying hello until close to Christmas, then ringing the bell and standing there waiting for a tip.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Cat!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
I often feel some critics or historians like to go a bit overboard with their interpretations!
DeleteHappy New Year, Marsha!
That's how I would see this too -- that he's just annoyed with all the calendars and focus on time and dates. You really do find some interesting movies!
ReplyDeleteGiven the estimate that about 80% of silent movies are regarded as lost, I can't even imagine what was out there at the time. It's truly fascinating.
Delete1909. How wonderful. I love all the images.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you ❤️ ☺️
Thank you, Linda, and a Happy New Year to you!
DeleteI'm kind of impressed with the critical message of this silent movie. Shame on me in a way, because apparently I have a bit of preconceived notion that silent movies are also kind of dumb movies. I stand corrected!
ReplyDeleteI think many people expect silent movies to be either slapstick or dramatic romance, just as they think everyone is overacting (the second being something I have been guilty of myself), but they could be just as critical as talkies, after all people were people, even if mindsets or values were of that time. To name just one I had on my blog already, "Modern Times".
Delete