A Chairy Tale

When I attended that Norman McLaren retrospective at London's National Film Theatre in 2007, I recall being disappointed on missing out on this short – since Leslie Halliwell deigns to give it a favourable ** rating in his "Film Guide" – although, at this point, I do not recall if that omission was because I was not going to be in London at the time of screening or because it was not included in the retrospective in the first place.

At any rate, now that I have caught up with it via "You Tube", the end result was rather underwhelming because, although the central situation – that of a man not being allowed to sit down to read by a rebellious chair – is agreeably surreal, it is also terminally one-note. Watching the man chasing the chair around in and out of camera shot and, at one point, having the chair actually stand still to watch the beleaguered man running around in circles as in a Tex Avery cartoon, seeing him grappling with the chair on the floor like someone engaged in a wrestling bout and, best of all, ultimately sitting down on it when in a stationary horizontal position on the floor, is decidedly amusing for a while. But, once the theme is stated, unfortunately nothing different is really done with it throughout its 10-minute running time and the invention does eventually wear thin. The multi-lingual opening credits trick is reprised from NEIGHBOURS (1952) but here serves no discernible purpose.

For the record, this short was co-directed by Claude Jutra – the man behind MY UNCLE ANTOINE (1971) which is hailed in some quarters as the best Canadian film ever made and has also been given a DVD release via The Criterion Collection; incidentally, competing against A CHAIRY TALE in the Best Short Subject Oscar category was CITY OF GOLD (1957) which I will be getting to presently.

It is perhaps illuminating to note that this amusing tale of an unnatural affection was made by two of Canada's most creative closeted homosexuals, Norman McLaren and Claude Jutra. The outcome here is a happy one, a union between man and chair.

"A Chairy Tale" was the closest that the great Norman McLaren ever came to a homoerotic film until he outed himself in his final effort, the quite overt "Narcissus", made in 1983, a gentle Canadian answer to the more confrontational works of the likes of Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman.

This short is an extremely effective use of the stop-motion technique of animation blended with live action footage about a very determined chair and a young man who wants nothing more than to sit and read. I personally negotiated a deal with my chairs: if they perform some basic function, they can remain. If not, they either pay rent like I do or they leave. So far, it seems to be an equitable and acceptable arrangement for all concerned. Most recommended.

A man. and a chair. sitar. and tabla. and, sure, the genius of McLaren. result - at the first sigh - an amusing film. at the second sigh - a parable about relationship. or love. or friendship. the music is the axis. to the well known transition from stop-motion to the live action. for the amusing battle. for the roles of chair. for the persistence of man. for the crumbs of circus show. and, off course, for the joy who has as root the profound simplicity. so, the four - sitar, chair, man, tabla. and a great show. or just profound useful lesson.

This is a very unusual short film about a man and a very strange chair! When he tries to sit in it, it moves away and eventually the man chases the chair in a vain attempt to catch it. However, after he accepts this and just sits on the floor, the chair returns and begins bothering him--wanting the man to accept him but STILL not sit on him! This is all very strange but the film makers manage to milk a lot out of what they've got to work with--and that is a man, a tiny plain set and a chair. Using stop-motion and their imaginations, they manage to spin a tale that actually kept me watching it--and you wouldn't think a chair film could do this! Plus, it sure helped that the film ended so well.

Clever, strange and totally unique--this short from the Canadian National Film Board is well worth seeing.