Les mammifères

After Two Men and a Wardrobe and The Fat and the Lean, this is third of Polanski's early short features to take on the style of a silent comedy. Ssaki (Mammals) actually goes as far in mimicking the look by recreating the flicker of silent films. However, while Two Men and a Wardrobe was at least mildly entertaining, and Fat and Lean was genuinely funny, Mammals is the least effective of the trio.

Setting the film in a field of snow, Polanski has a completely pure white space for the action to take place in. This frees the image of any background clutter and encourages us to focus solely on the two protagonists and their half dozen or so props. The white background also allows for a rather clever sight gag in which one of the men makes himself disappear by wrapping himself from head to foot in bandages.

Apart from that one little moment there is really very little to hold the viewer. There is presumably some kind of metaphor going on, but if the film isn't entertaining, there seems no point in looking for it.

I entered by accident a film theater where this short film was playing. My wife and I looked at each other : what is this old fashioned black and white film ?? But at the end of the film we had a smile on our face and when we entered that evening at home, we still smiled.

It was a little bit old fashioned, the characters were ugly and stupid. But the typical East-European humor was pure and simple. It was everything I miss when I see an American 'over the top' humorous blockbuster.

Only the minimal was used : two colors (black and white), two men, one movement, no speech only music, a brief script.

This is genius of Polanski !!!!!!!!!!!!!

No genre, I believe, is more subjective than humor. What is hilarious to one person is totally stupid to another, and vice-versa. What was very funny 60 years ago often looks dumb today and what was humorous 100 years ago was stupid to people 50 years later. Also, what makes people in one culture laugh does nothing for people halfway around the world in another country.

I say all that because this comedy was totally lame to me, yet seemed to make a few other reviewers laugh and probably made Polish audiences chuckle or howl 46 years ago. I found very little that humorous in here.....precious little. Basically, the story is just two "Dumb and Dumber" guys who do stupid things to each other out on a frozen lake somewhere.

What I did like was the music and the use of lighting for the barren winter landscape. Director Roman Polanski, in his last short film before making "Knife In The Water," uses the whiteness of the ice and general terrain very effectively, especially in one scene where one of the two bozos wraps himself in white bandages so you barely see him.

This is almost like an ode to silent films but, as fellow reviewer "nora nettlerash" puts it here, what good is it, if it isn't entertaining?