Time Piece is an Oscar-nominated 1965 short film directed by and starring Jim Henson. The short has no discernible plot; the underlying theme of the film is a hapless everyman's adversarial relationship with time.
This film provides examples of:
- Arc Word: The only word spoken during the short's eight-minute run is Jim's whimpered "Help!", which appears a total of four times.
- Audible Blink: Jim's frequent blinks are accompanied by the sound of a camera shutter.
- The Cameo: Three of Henson's usual
cohorts make brief appearances: Frank Oz (as an office worker), writer and one-time performer Jerry Juhl (a bartender) and puppet designer Don Sahlin (the guy who gets a Pie in the Face). - Mickey Mousing: The basic structural frame of the entire film. The film is scored for percussion and everything is synchronized to the same steady rhythm — an impressive feat for Jim, since he had to do multiple takes walking (or running) at the exact same speed and length of stride.
- Mr. Fanservice: Jim himself is shirtless for part of the film, wearing only his Tarzan shorts.
- Pie in the Face: A nightclub comic (Don Sahlin) is smacked in the face with a pie.
- The Runner-Up Takes It All: Real Life example. This movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film, but lost to Claude Berri's Le Poulet — which is only remembered nowadays as The Short That Took Jim Henson's Oscar.
- Something Else Also Rises: A striptease scene is interrupted by a banana and a champagne cork popping off the bottle.
- Surreal Music Video: It isn't a true music video per se, but it certainly fits this trope thanks to an exploding alarm clock, a man painting an elephant pink, a rubber stamp reading "DAMN!", and a man in a gorilla suit on a pogo stick, among too many other elements to possibly list.
- Toplessness from the Back: A short montage shows several women unhooking their bras from behind.
