Kiri-Kis
About Kiri-Kis
Eleven performers in Japanese costume, four men, four women, two teenagers, and a child, bow to the camera. They hold a dozen balances that ignore weight: a child seems to carry adults on a beam. They bow again and leave. The camera is above them. They are lying on the floor.
Cast & crew
More about Kiri-Kis
Segundo de Chomón directed for Pathé. The French title is Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais. Apart from the bow, the tricks are shot straight down from a scaffold, so horizontal bodies read as a standing pyramid. A copy runs 2 minutes 43 seconds. Color was applied by hand, frame by frame.
Themes
Look
Chomón hangs the camera on a scaffold and shoots straight down, so the troupe, lying on a black floor, looks upright.
Technique
The human pyramids are an overhead shot, not substitution splices.
Preservation
A hand-colored print survives.
Notes
- The performers are French, made up and dressed as Japanese acrobats.
- The impossible stack, including a child holding several adults, is the overhead angle, not wires.
- Wikipedia times the film at 2 minutes 43 seconds. Wikidata says 3 minutes.
- The black floor and a few Japanese set pieces are the only scenery.
Scenes
- The troupe bows, then locks into balances that only work because the camera is above them.
