There’s the films of Jacques Tati, of course.
What about WR: Mysteries of the Organism?
Yes Tati would apply, but WR doesn’t, just think of the plaster cast scene for example.
Okay, how about Where is the Friend’s Home?
Also, Persona.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. What are you considering “fun and inoffensive”, and why does “Innocence Unprotected” fall into the category?
Oh, well what about Time Bandits?
And In The Realm of the Senses. Any Nagisa Oshima, for that matter.
I cite Innocence Unprotected because it’s lively, and overall fun and there’s nothing that would make most people upset, and it’s an artistic film, not of the normal mainstream kind. I usually see fun art house films as often containing risky material, and G rated art house films as usually serious, like Bresson for example.
Maybe Svankmajer’s Alice would qualify. I’m just passively interested in what people say, this is not life or death.
I wouldn’t exactly call documentary images of corpses in the streets of Belgrade during world War II “fun” and not upsetting to people. But hey, maybe we’re talking about two different films! Maybe you’re talking about the Aleksic “Innocence Unprotected” and not the Makavejev one!
So fun arthouse films are risky? I still have no clue what you’re trying to get at, but whatever.
Overall it’s fun, the documentary footage to me adds a degree of pathos, but it doesn’t overwhelm the playfulness of the film. My apparently failed attempt here was to point out that not many films made with a strong aesthetic are enjoyable AND for example fit to show ultra conservative types of people. I don’t pay much attention to recent stuff, but maybe something like that Wes Anderson kid’s movie with the puppets is the type of thing I’m thinking of, only older.
oh, so animation counts?
fyodor khitruk, duh
any russian animator for that matter
This was my first topic creation, I’m at a loss for words. Talk amongst yourselves, or let it slip ever so slowly to page 300 or so.
lunaire
I know of only a very few art house films that are both fun and inoffensive. I can only think of Innocence Unprotected, Grey Gardens, and The Rules of the Game. I think it’s a very narrow category, but am interested in what anyone has to say about it.