Rating: 
Summary: Better than nothing!!!
Review: Okay, La Jetee is in English, but at least it's on DVD. And extra points for Gilliam for doing a phoned-in commentary, considering his film was only slightly based on the short.
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, Warner's, there IS a difference.
Review: Okay; I'll admit it. I bought this DVD solely so I'd have a copy of La Jetée that doesn't degrade every time I watch it. Unfortunately, this version of La Jetée is narrated in ENGLISH. Huh? The cadence of the original French narration is hypnotic -- and its meaning filled with subtleties that get lost in translation. It's a FRENCH thing. One of the major perks of DVD ownership is the wondrous world of alternate audio tracks and a wide selection of subtitles. (You haven't lived until you watch Groundhog Day subtitled in French!) Evidently, Warner's thinks the babble of Chris Marker wannabe's is interesting. I certainly don't. I'd rather listen to the soundtrack of my childhood. We all have defining moments. We all walk along one pier or another. La Jetée is an eerie, magical film whose importance in my life cannot be described. I'll stick with my ancient, fuzzy VHS version in the original French, thank-you-very-much. Yes, Warner's, there IS a difference.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece in a linguistic wheelchair
Review: One of the loveliest love stories ever acted, crafted and filmed, "La Jetee" is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Everything about it is precise, effortless, surprising, moving. How a sequence of still frames can create such a sense of coherent narrative and sequentiality is simply bewildering. There is one obvious component, though: the original French narrative. Masculine and vulnerable, coherent and nuanced, it is a major part of the film's sense and aesthetic logic. Even if the claim that Marker "prefers" the English version is true, as the filmmaker he is not necessarily its best critic. The English voiceover is not terrible, but it takes away a lot from the piece - not just because the French narration suits it better (it is a very French film) but also because it is simply executed better. Dvd is a format that's supposed to offer precisely these options to viewers, and I'm disappointed that, while every commercial flick is offered in 15 different formats and languages, such a vital aspect of "La Jetee" is ignored. It is still worth your while, but waiting for the complete thing (or catching it on screen) is preferable in my view (a view that draws on having followed "La Jetee" in different formats about two dozen times, indulges in the cineroman and script, and for a brief while lived in it.)
Rating: 
Summary: La Jetee -- English language version!
Review: Please note: I bought this DVD solely for La Jetee and had to return it when I found out that the version on "Short 2: Dreams" is the dreadful English language version. I have read elsewhere that Chris Marker approved this version as well as the French one, and that he allegedly liked this one better. I only hope this isn't true, since I consider La Jetee in French to be one of the great masterpieces in all of film and I have no use for the English-language version. Buyer beware! La Jetee in French is hard to find on DVD in the U.S., but worth the search.
Rating:
Summary: La Jetee -- English language version!
Review: Please note: I bought this DVD solely for La Jetee and had to return it when I found out that the version on "Short 2: Dreams" is the dreadful English language version. I have read elsewhere that Chris Marker approved this version as well as the French one, and that he allegedly liked this one better. I only hope this isn't true, since I consider La Jetee in French to be one of the great masterpieces in all of film and I have no use for the English-language version. Buyer beware! La Jetee in French is hard to find on DVD in the U.S., but worth the search.
Rating:
Summary: La Jetee -- English language version!
Review: Please note: I bought this DVD solely for La Jetee and had to return it when I found out that the version on "Short 2: Dreams" is the dreadful English language version. I have read elsewhere that Chris Marker approved this version as well as the French one, and that he allegedly liked this one better. I only hope this isn't true, since I consider La Jetee in French to be one of the great masterpieces in all of film and I have no use for the English-language version. Buyer beware! La Jetee in French is hard to find on DVD in the U.S., but worth the search.
Rating:
Summary: La Jetee in English?
Review: Short 2 - Dreams was overall a disapointment. I bought it strictly for La Jetee (Chris Marker) which, naturally, loses a great deal of eloquence in English, as it appears on the DVD. But it remains an incontrovertably wonderful film. Other than the section by/about Gary Hickenlooper, nothing on the DVD deserves a second viewing. The Hickenlooper pieces, while of interest, are not really engrossing, although I may venture into watching The Big Brass Ring at full length. The long and short of it is this: if you know and love La Jetee enough to want an English version, this is a good buy. Otherwise, don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: La Jetee in English?
Review: Short 2 - Dreams was overall a disapointment. I bought it strictly for La Jetee (Chris Marker) which, naturally, loses a great deal of eloquence in English, as it appears on the DVD. But it remains an incontrovertably wonderful film. Other than the section by/about Gary Hickenlooper, nothing on the DVD deserves a second viewing. The Hickenlooper pieces, while of interest, are not really engrossing, although I may venture into watching The Big Brass Ring at full length. The long and short of it is this: if you know and love La Jetee enough to want an English version, this is a good buy. Otherwise, don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: mixed bag
Review: The first film in this anthology is the classic French short La Jetee, a chilling haunting film that you won't be able to get out of your head for days. All the more remarkable because it is composed almost entirely of stills (there is a brief moving shot about 18 1/2 minutes in that is both startling and deeply moving). A masterpiece not only of French cinema, but of cinema itself. Unfortunately, things go downhill fast after this. Cafe Bar is a brief short of two people who fail to connect in a cafe and fantasize about each other. It plays like it was written by Jules Feiffer on an off day. Depth Solitude is visually striking, but the story is labored and obvious. A Guy Walks Int a Bar stars Fred Savage as a naive young man headed for Hollywood who interacts with various seedy stereotypical characters in the desert. A bit too long at 27 minutes. Bride of Resistor-- visually inventive, but the story is a yawn. Eye Like a Strange Balloon gets my nod for second-best of this DVD. There are some incredibly surreal images, but damned if I can figure out what it's about. Vincent: The Junkie Chronicles is a 9 minute excerpt from an interview with a junkie about the damage he's done to himself. Sad more than shocking. There are two brief shorts on filmmaker George Hickenlooper's attempts to film an Orson Welles screenplay, which are of interest to diehard film fans only. And finally there is the aptly named Junk Drawer, a bunch of pointless and juvenile fragments that are not worth your time. WARNING: one item on the main menu is actually a collection of commercials! Verdict: La Jetee and Eye Like a Strange Balloon are the only ones worth repeated viewings, a few of the others worth a look, and Junk Drawer is best avoided.
Rating:
Summary: mixed bag
Review: The first film in this anthology is the classic French short La Jetee, a chilling haunting film that you won't be able to get out of your head for days. All the more remarkable because it is composed almost entirely of stills (there is a brief moving shot about 18 1/2 minutes in that is both startling and deeply moving). A masterpiece not only of French cinema, but of cinema itself. Unfortunately, things go downhill fast after this. Cafe Bar is a brief short of two people who fail to connect in a cafe and fantasize about each other. It plays like it was written by Jules Feiffer on an off day. Depth Solitude is visually striking, but the story is labored and obvious. A Guy Walks Int a Bar stars Fred Savage as a naive young man headed for Hollywood who interacts with various seedy stereotypical characters in the desert. A bit too long at 27 minutes. Bride of Resistor-- visually inventive, but the story is a yawn. Eye Like a Strange Balloon gets my nod for second-best of this DVD. There are some incredibly surreal images, but damned if I can figure out what it's about. Vincent: The Junkie Chronicles is a 9 minute excerpt from an interview with a junkie about the damage he's done to himself. Sad more than shocking. There are two brief shorts on filmmaker George Hickenlooper's attempts to film an Orson Welles screenplay, which are of interest to diehard film fans only. And finally there is the aptly named Junk Drawer, a bunch of pointless and juvenile fragments that are not worth your time. WARNING: one item on the main menu is actually a collection of commercials! Verdict: La Jetee and Eye Like a Strange Balloon are the only ones worth repeated viewings, a few of the others worth a look, and Junk Drawer is best avoided.
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