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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Very cool, 7 February 2006
8/10
Author: Mike Dedmon from Pensacola, Florida : United States

I know in today's world, this would be seen as very politically incorrect, but at the time, I think they were trying to make a humorous short using special effects.

It's really cool and looks so good, that many people don't believe that it's from 1907. They think it's a modern piece that has been edited to look old.

It is a very clever way make the viewer think that they are seeing amazing tricks. Even in today's technological world, this technique is still used in some cases as an effect. Very impressive.

It's a must see.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Kiriki, Japanese Acrobatics looked like an interesting early silent starring expert gymnasts, 17 July 2009
8/10
Author: tavm from Baton Rouge, La.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Before I watched this trick film by Segundo do Chomon on the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection, I did read some of the comments presented here so I knew about the floor-disguised-as-wall illusion. Still, it's quite impressive to see these children and adults giving the impression they're doing unusual acrobatics in front of an audience supposedly watching this in a theater. The stencil-colors looked pretty good as well. I also learned from the other comments that these were Caucasians made up to look Japanese which I wouldn't have noticed by myself. So, no, I didn't find the characterizations to be offensive since it's just them doing "acrobatics". So on that note, I recommend Kiriki, Japanese Acrobats.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Neat, 26 June 2009
Author: JoeytheBrit from www.moviemoviesite.com

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is a very clever Pathe film made in 1907. It was made to compete with the trick films of Georges Melies, and in some ways it shows an imagination lacking from Melies effects-heavy extravaganzas.

What we have here is a group of acrobats - men, women and children - made up to look Japanese. They run onto a mostly black stage, take a bow and then proceed to perform a number of acrobatic feats of strength and balance that appear to defy gravity. Of course all is not what it seems: the acrobats are actually lying on the floor, so that little six year old kid isn't actually holding up the rest of the troupe on his shoulders as you might first think.

It's all very cleverly done, and even though it's a trick film, it still requires a measure of dexterity and skill on the part of the performers. They even wobble slightly at times to give the impression they're working under strain!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
sideways Orient-ation, 15 April 2008
6/10
Author: F Gwynplaine MacIntyre (Borroloola@earthlink.net) from Minffordd, North Wales

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I viewed a print of this short movie courtesy of Lobster Films, Paris. Here we have a French 'trick' film by the Pathe Brothers, from the same period in which Georges Melies was making his very popular trick movies. However, in Melies's films the trickery was accomplished by jump cuts, and spectacle was provided by elaborate sets and audacious story lines. In 'The Kiriki, Japanese Acrobats', we have a fairly straightforward acrobatic performance, abetted by some trickery that is far simpler than Melies's box of tricks, yet no less satisfying.

We see some men, women and children in gymnastic clothing, clearly Caucasian yet made up to look vaguely Oriental, with ridiculously built-up foreheads covered by ludicrous hairstyles. The women creep back and forth in that ridiculous shuffling gait (move the feet very quickly but in very tiny steps) that western performers affect to simulate Orientals. I realise that, in the first decade of the twentieth century, the most proficient acrobatic troupes were nearly all Japanese ... but frankly, this ying-tong Japanoiserie did absolutely nothing to add to the proceedings, and should have been dispensed with.

In small groups, the troupe rapidly execute a series of acrobatic manoeuvres which are so dazzling that they seem nearly superhuman. There is, of course, a trick: a deceptively simple one, yet done so skilfully that some viewers may have difficulty figuring it out.

TRICK EXPLAINED NOW. Except for some 'book-end' footage at the beginning and the end, which is shot conventionally, the entire movie is filmed with an overhead camera shooting STRAIGHT DOWN onto a black velvet dropcloth surrounded by four upright walls. The actors, lying on this surface, affect postures to indicate that they are standing upright, with one of the walls being treated as a horizontal floor. When the tumblers move 'upwards', supposedly defying gravity, they are in fact merely moving horizontally, away from the wall representing the 'floor' and towards the opposite wall representing the 'ceiling'. The lighting, from directly above, eliminates side shadows and makes the trickery less obvious.

The trick is made more difficult to spot because the stunts are done quickly and proficiently, and the performers demonstrate some genuine agility. To call this a 'trick' film is slightly demeaning to their efforts, since there is some genuine acrobatic work going on here: just not in the direction that it seems to be.

I was amused and impressed by this movie, but I would have enjoyed it far more without the utterly unnecessary racial stereotyping. My rating for this one: 6 out of 10.

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