Pierre Etaix (1961-1971)

[bigshot]

I just got my copy of this in the mail from Amazon and popped it on to watch a short and take a quick look at the features. This looks like it might be the biggest discovery of the year. Comparisons with Jacques Tati, Jerry Lewis and Buster Keaton are correct. This guy is fantastic.

I did a little googling and found out the reason I've never heard of Etaix is because he returned to the circus to be a clown in the early 70s, and since then, his films have been tied up in legal limbo. But a group of cinephiles, including Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorcese circulated a petition demanding that the films be restored and released again.

I only watched about a half hour of this set and I'm already sold on it. I can't wait until the weekend when I can dive in and really devour all this great stuff.