Cops
(Poliziotti, USA/1921)
R.: Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline. D.: 20’.
English Intertitles

GAG
At the heart of the programme for Il Cinema Ritrovato Kids 2022 is a showcase of slapstick cinema in all its various forms, from early film to the present: an opportunity for young and old alike to abandon themselves and give in to laughter. Too often dismissed as a minor genre, this form of cinema, which first found favour in the early years of the 20th century, has over the years attracted distinguished enthusiasts such as Henri Bergson, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Gianni Celati, who helped reveal its sophisticated working principles.
Comic gags are based on tried-and-tested mechanisms, structured like clockwork. The humorous effect is the result of a precise rhythmic organisation of the actions that take place on screen and constitute – in the words of Pasolini – “lightning moments” of explosive comedy. The game, in slapstick cinema, consists of the inversion of a conventional vision of the world, the overturning of commonplaces and everyday reality which, in a sudden flash, is rendered strange yet still believable.
The misunderstanding, the snowball effect, the rebellion of physical objects, the paradox: these are just some of the many forms that a humorous gag may take on screen, as can be seen in the films presented here: from the very first comic short in the history of cinema, Louis Lumière’s The Waterer Watered, right up to the most recent, highly amusing, animated adventures of Pat and Mat, the neighbours who are the protagonists of the Czech animated series of the same name, which drew its inspiration from the great comic masters of the past, Chaplin (our selection includes the very first appearance of the Little Tramp, Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal.) and Keaton.
Finally, the programme also includes an homage to the film historian Giannalberto Bendazzi, who died recently: a great expert and passionate enthusiast of animation and slapstick.