18 January 2022

Sam Karmann's Omnibus (1992)

As a director, Sam Karmann is perhaps best known for the cult feature Kennedy et moi (1999), an adaptation of Jean-Paul Dubois's novel of the same name. That was his second film and his first feature, although before that he made a humorous eight-minute short into which a number of events are crammed, the final one being even more absurd than the rest.

There are no names mentioned, but the ticket inspector (Jacques Martial) on a train asks a passenger (Daniel Rialet) for his ticket, which he nonchalently does, but the inspector says it's insufficient. This the traveller doesn't understand as he's always caught the same train to Cateau-Cambredis. The inspector replies that the train has now changed schedule and goes direct to Desvres without stopping at Cateau-Cambredis. The traveller follows the inspector and tells him that his job, his livelihood and his family will be put in danger if he can no longer get to work, and he becomes distraught and starts to cry.

The inspector says it's nothing to do with him but the driver (Christian Rauth), and introduces the man to him. The driver says he can't stop at Cateau-Cambredis because it's not in his schedule, so the passenger repeats his tale of woe. In the end the driver says he won't stop there but he'll drive very slowly through the station so the man can jump out, which he does. But just as the passengers on the train are applauding him, a burly man on the end carriage grabs the man back on the train, thinking he's about to miss catching it.

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