Parade

Jacques Tati - 1974
Modernist but very much not in your face; full of fasination with what is going on, but not spectacular in any way. It is obvious this is a 'strange' film.
What makes this what it is is how we are not (only) watching the show, we are watching a show being performed. We are constantly on the auience, cutting back and reframing also (in a way less like Tati than usual). We are almost studying the audience more at times. What I found especially interesting about this is how Tati can show the audience as a little odd, even a little bored. Are we watching a failing show? No, not really, but it's not just 'here's our show; like it'.
The show is impressive, as circuses are, and very fun to watch, though not really stunning. What is interesting is how the crowd are so involved, the show spills to backstage, the decor doesn't quite tell us where the show ends or anything else begins. Everything is rehearsed, yet at the same time one feels that most of them would be being done anyway. O.K., we have a white backdrop and so on, but still.
As Tati gives us his show, casting an eye over his own impressive, of a different age perhaps, performance. He becomes more interested in watching the kids, not necessarilly 'doing' anything, but, well, doesn't make it less interesting to watch. Tati as sociologist, as performer, no gap, all in one.