PlayTime (1967)

Waste of time

Fresh and Exciting

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Okay, let me point out that the only reason this has spoilers is there is no plat, so if you are looking at this review, be warned, the third quarter may be spoiled.Tati's PlayTime to me, is a comedy that has nothing to poke fun at except ourselves. It is the story of how we evolved and how, we are too dependent upon technology and the world around us. One scene in particular to describe this is the scene were Hulot enters the building, and the old man says these thingamajigs aren't helping us out. Tati found that this was comedy, the older gentleman has trouble with the approaching world.The whole film takes place, as we are supposed to believe, is a 24 hour time period about the lives of M. Hulot (or is it a decoy) and the lives of a bunch of American Tourists. While the tourists navigate throughout the bustling streets of modern day Paris, Hulot tries to meet for an interview of some sorts. Well, in the chaos of all this technology, Hulot manages to get lost and give up. Meanwhile, the tourists are just wrapping up at an exhibition for a tech show (if there is a theme, it is the world Technology). After the exhibition wraps up, Hulot meets and old friend in a very suggestive scene. From there he walks at night around Paris and stumbles upon a gentleman he was looking for in the morning. After this encounter, Hulot enters a restaurant on its opening night, which has everything going wrong. Hulot meets one of the tourists while dancing, and wrecking havoc upon the restaurant. They party till dawn where they enter a shop, where Hulot buys the tourist a gift. He doesn't say who it is from, and she leaves, whilst Hulot moves on.The ending just speaks brilliant. It is a photograph f our time, the time that is washing away. Tati walks out at the end, and in real life, he walked out on a lot of things at this time.Tati was broke, sold every film he owned, and made no money on it. If there is ever a story of dedication to the art, it is Tati's story. He is a man that reaches no boundaries, and PlayTime is the high point in that boundary. It is one of my favorite films of all time, and I enjoy after multiple viewings. It speaks to all, and our world. When will we realize technology is bad and not good.

Haven't done any homework when I was stumbling across my first Tati's film, and never imagined a film could be made in this way, a legitimate horizon-widener of film-making. The film commences in its befuddling narrative-void montages of variegated characters in the Paris airport of the vintage time, later, follows a group of American housewives-tourists embarks on their city route, first stop is a futuristic modern edifice of an Expo-esque site for a visit, while incorporating Monsieur Hulot (Tati himself), a well-mannered old man who keeps bypassing the man whom he supposedly should meet. After a short stopover at his upstart friend's newly- purchased home, Monsieur Hulot fortuitously bumps into the guy he had been looking for all day during a rubberneckers' gathering. The subsequent location resides in a nearly-furbished restaurant with a melange of patrons and staff (Monsieur Hulot and the American tourists included), the 45-minutes main course of all-inclusive gags, bloopers, transforms a hoity-toity eating place to a chaotic shindig, a sensible mockery and revelry of the vagaries of our humdrum activities. The film finishes with the tourists' return to the airport in the dusk light, and Monsieur Hulot's goodbye keepsake to one of the elegant American lady (Dennek), a silk kerchief, bespeaks the epitome of the metropolitan city. Basically, the film flouts any narrative-driven urges to underpin a normal feature film, the first half, viewers are being induced of an impression amounts to a loitering in a museum, with gigantic visual installations, emancipate a post-modern surrealism through the architectures, interior designs and costumes. The mirror-reflection antics have been ingeniously imposed many times to highlight several landmarks of Paris, the interlude of a transparent home design with minimalistic accessories is still avant-garde 45 years after. The restaurant bulk is more lively (both visually and aurally), a masterly farce encompasses minute boo-boos with miscellaneous players, every and each is done with a light touch but effectively strikes a chord with its resourceful wits and humor, and for certain, multiple watching is a must to extensively sense the virtuosity of all the arrangements, slap sticks and the esprit de corps, it is also the dramatic personae's playtime, in spite of that each and every one is bit part, counting Monsieur Hulot.Near the end, Tati culminates his love letter to Paris with a carousel-alike orchestration of vehicles lumbering around a circular parterre, an innovative amusement park metaphor renders immense pleasure through Tati's mojo.The film cost Tati 10 years in debt due to its commercial failure, with only 5 films made through his time, sadly it is a genius filmmaker and comedian who is way ahead of his time and should have been appreciated more. PLAYTIME is a marvelous feat, I cannot say if it is the case of Tati's other oeuvre since I'm plain a beginner in the territory, and it shines immaculately in the BluRay disc, I wonder it would be a perfect option to be enjoyed even you just leave it play in the background, each time you glance it, you will discover little gems there, profoundly witty or optically stimulating.

Wow! I've never seen this. It's just amazing. I'm taking days to see it to savor it, just having a little each night for a simple dinner and Tennessee Whiskey.This is my favorite type of film.Does anyone know if Robert Altman and this director had any links?I feel like I'm watching Short Cuts.I want to see this in the original Cinerama Dome of Hollywood.I just don't understand the line requirement. I love this movie and will just try to send a good night, and I love you all who come to International Movie Data Based dot com.Love Brent Kliss

PLAY TIME is a film of astonishing complexity. Tati's performance of this mammoth piece succeeds as both a satire on the absurdity of modern tourism and an unthinkable demonstration of fulfilled imagination. It is famously unwatchable in one sitting. That's not true, but it does yield magnificent insights for those who brave this new Paris.Tati constructs PLAY TIME in unflinching diagonals. Like Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST, from which it clearly takes influence, the film revels in the construction of right angles but is always photographed from a diagonal. This is the source of subtle visual tension which Tati is able to sustain throughout the entire process. It is a touch that renders PLAY TIME with that elusive coherence and consistency usually absent in the presence of absurdity. Another component to the consistency is character. Barbara and Hulot share our curiosity and confusion. We are grounded in their solid construction like we would be in any more conventional narrative. Hulot is the perfect character to take us through this labyrinth. Tati, acting as Hulot, plays both our emotional (Hulot -- curiosity, confusion, exploration) and physical (director -- mise en scene) tour guide. Ultimately, the style is arresting. Angular tension binds with bold consistency to create an entirely watchable film.In addition, Tati out-Altman's Altman years before M*A*S*H made him popular. The sound is layered and marvelous, not unlike the visuals, and just as dense with gags. Primary focal points are invariably covered up. English speaking audiences will be rewarded by numerous auditory jokes in both foreground and buried deep into the background. The visual gags are numerous and often simultaneous. Scenes involve incredibly dense, complex, precise comic choreography. Not unlike Keaton, Tati possesses unshakable artistic control and a belief in the subtle comedy of location.PLAY TIME is an astonishing ballet of cinematic possibilities. One only has to think of someone like Malick to realize that Tati imbues every frame with electricity and spirit while making it look effortless. Is it a perfect film? If not, the accomplishment is nothing short of being, quite literally, an absurd miracle. PLAY TIME is a grand fugue of the cinema with lighthearted subject and angular answer. It is capable of anything -- arresting crescendi, subtle sequencing, revealing comedy, and simple beauty. How Tati managed to fulfill this dream will forever remain an object of fascination and a testament to the potential of genius.98.8 (The highest rating I have yet assigned)