12 March 2021

Claude Jutra's Rouli-Roulant | The Devil's Toy (1966)

 

The title of this fifteen-minute short relates to the urban surfboard: the skateboard. The bizarre voiceover is by Charles Denner, who at one point describes the skateboard and various methods of skateboarding with such obviousness that the listener feels that this is ludicrous; at other times, Denner's voice rises with such vociferation to denounce skateboarding that it becomes pure fanaticism.

We see youths in various skateboarding postures, see the police confiscating their boards as it's illegal, and telling the owners that they can collect them at the ice stadium where skating is legal. And, the skaters note, is also flat. Geneviève Bujold sings Pierre F. Brault's song as the titles roll at the end.

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