Award-winning writer, performer and musician Little John Nee is bringing his unique spin on a silent movie masterpiece to this year's Kerry Film Festival - he introduces Sherlock Jr. below.
Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. will be one hundred years old in 2024, yet it still evokes loud laughter from sophisticated cinephiles. Forget the cinephiles, young children kick the seats in front of them with glee and clutch their parents while twisting in paroxysms of laughter. A laughter so contagious as to be distracting to the musicians playing the live soundtrack.
When Sherlock Jr first screened in 1924 silent films were accompanied by a pianist or organist employed by the cinema - in some cases a small orchestra. Subsequently soundtracks have been added to the movie, most of these have been composed in a twenties style reminiscent of the period the film was made.
In early 2023 I was commissioned by the Sound! Festival in Donegal to choose a favourite silent film and to compose a new live soundtrack, I chose Sherlock Jr. I also made the wise decision - no brainer- to collaborate with musician Fionn Robinson on this work. We immediately decided we would have a more contemporary feel for the accompaniment, to set it free from it’s historical context and allow it to shine as a work of genius still relevant in the 21st entry.
The mood and action in the movie is fast changing, requiring intense presence and focus from the musicians; its hard when there are all manner of howls coming from the audience.
Buster Keaton is regarded as one of the greatest clowns and probably the most innovative of the pioneers of film-making. In Sherlock Jr. we see him in full flow, the groundbreaking ideas, the experimentation, impeccable timing, the sublime gag structure, the physical grace, astonishing stunts. In short, Buster’s genius is a thing to behold.
This movie has also been hailed as masterpiece of early surrealism, a precursor to Salvador Dali, Buñuel and Cocteau but be aware this is not an academic exercise in film appreciation, this is not a museum piece, a relic of a bygone era, this is a joyful experience that transcends generations.
So get out of the house and bring your family; bring your neighbour; bring a sad hipster who needs cheering up; allow yourself the opportunity to marvel, to laugh, to experience something unique.
Sherlock Jr. is at Siamsa Tíre on October 22nd, as part of this year's Kerry Film Festival - find out more here.
