Modern Times

Modern Times

Chaplin makes a delightful romp out of a distressingly bleak worldview. His gags, sense of humanity and occasional treacly sentimentality are undimmed, but it’s the backdrop that makes this so powerful: the world his Tramp exists in is one in which life is more or less a binary choice between mindless manual labor and a continually contentious relationship with the law. The contrast between Chaplin’s effortless humor (roller skating at the edge of a half-missing upper floor is a highlight) and this almost nihilistic perspective makes for incredibly potent cinema, but it’s clear he has no answers. The last scene, where he and Goddard walk off into the distance, is both beautiful and empty; there’s nothing good waiting for them at the end of that road.

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