Just because you can make a silent film in black and white, doesn't mean you should, does it? Tuvalu tells us that demon technology like, you know, dialogue, is really really bad.

Get beyond the many gimmicks, and you'll find a reasonably good story waiting to get out. As told through images and various characters' grunts, we watch as a public spa/pool/gym struggles with its rapidly disintegrating edifice. The fact that the inspector is about to condemn the place is one thing -- an evil boatman who wants a crucial part from the gym's steam engine is yet another headache.

Leading the charge to save the business is Anton (Denis Lavant), a Chaplin-esque goofball that runs about with the energy of a dozen men. Complicating his task is that he's in love with Eva (Chulpan Khamatova), a girl in the employ of the wicked boatman who wants nothing more than to see the spa destroyed.

All of this is very light and often silly -- and occasionally a word or two of dialogue does manage to sneak in -- puppets and paper boats are used in establishing shots. But the central action of the film, once it gets going, is fun and reasonably entertaining. Lavant is the spitting image of Dominque Pinon, the star of Delicatessen, a film to which Tuvalu owes a substantial debt by way of homage. Khamatova is so cute and lovable in her pigtails you can't help but fall for her yourself.

When it's said and done, you won't have had a bad time, but you'll wonder if this wouldn't have worked better as an experimental short rather than a full 90-minute feature. Charlie Chaplin's been gone for a long time now, ya know?



Sleeping with the goldfishes.