Official Jacques Tati Thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Scope J, Aug 2, 2009.

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  1. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Saw the olde thread was closed ,
    here is a new one for the comedic
    GENIUS .

    This year picked up the four
    Criterion titles :
    M. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
    Mon Oncle (1958)
    Playtime (1967)
    Trafic (1971)

    All 50% off .

    Have seen a fair looking
    vhs copy of Jour de fete (1949)
    Why has Crirerion not restored
    this classic ? !

    Have not seen Parade (1974)

    Here is the Officiel Tati
    website :

    www.tativille.com









    [​IMG]









    [​IMG]
     
    Scope J, Aug 2, 2009
    #1
  2. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    [​IMG]
     
    Scope J, Aug 3, 2009
    #2
  3. mewdisk

    mewdisk Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Thanks for reminding me of these films,
    remember seeing one when I was younger and was just amazed.
    Not sure which one, but there was a restaurant scene.

    I'll have to buy a few DVDs.
     
    mewdisk, Aug 3, 2009
    #3
  4. CraigVC

    CraigVC Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Perhaps you're thinking of M. Hulot's Holiday - there's a long scene in the restaurant of the vacation hotel where Monsieur Hulot was staying with other guests?

    Or (more likely) you're thinking of Playtime, which had Hulot wandering around a technologically-advanced Paris, and there was a key scene late in the film in a restaurant.

    Is your memory in black and white (Holiday) or color (Playtime)? :)

    Craig.
     
    CraigVC, Aug 3, 2009
    #4
  5. mewdisk

    mewdisk Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Color, so that would be Playtime, cool.
     
    mewdisk, Aug 3, 2009
    #5
  6. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Tati blu ray ?
     
    alexpop, Aug 4, 2009
    #6
  7. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Playtime is on blu-ray.

    I should check that one out. The only one that I have seen is M. Hulot's Holiday.
     
    Hawkman, Aug 4, 2009
    #7
  8. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....


    Color     ! Wow !

    Don't have HD tv about to dip my toes in the blu.
    What's Playtime's picture defination like on HD ?
     
    alexpop, Aug 4, 2009
    #8
  9. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    Location:
    Driebergen, The Netherlands
    I love his earliest films; Jour de Fete and Les Vacances de M. Hulot! Quite a few of the funniest visual gags in movie history!
     
    Yovra, Aug 4, 2009
    #9
  10. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Location:
    Marysville, WA, Salina, KS, Los Angeles, CA
    I saw PLAYTIME in 70mm a few years ago. Here's my report, as originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.tech usenet group, June 8, 2004:

    Last night, my wife and I watched "Playtime" in a 70mm print at the Cinerama in
    Seattle, a one-time showing as part of the Seattle International Film Festival.
    Here are my thoughts on a very enjoyable evening:

    1. The picture quality was beautiful virtually throughout the film. There were
    one or two shots which looked a little grainy/contrasty, like they came from
    dupe material, but otherwise it looked absolutely stunning. The use of all the
    stainless steel grey backgrounds with colorful action in the foreground was
    very effective.

    2. When the film first began, I feared another goof-up by the Cinerama staff, as
    there was no sound, but this was just because all of the restoration/technical
    credits appear at the beginning of the film, silently. Immediately, I was
    taken with the stability of the 70mm image, with very little registration
    jitter.

    3. The image was roughly 1.85:1, and this was confirmed by the projectionist
    following the show. There is a Mitchell 70mm camera credit in the opening, and
    the clarity of the image definately shows its 70mm origination, despite the
    aspect ratio.

    4. I was sitting very near one of the rear surrounds, and I never heard a peep
    in the surround channel, so either it was used very subtly, or not at all, or
    the surrounds were off, or I'm going deaf in my rear ears.

    5. The sound in the front sounded original, with a fair amount of directional
    dialogue. I'm thinking that maybe there was just LCR and no surround? Not
    sure. One surprising thing: there were a few shots where cars passed by going
    across the screen, and the stereotypical left-to-right panning of that sound
    across the front was often not there. In some shots, we would see the car
    move, but the sound was just in the center channel.

    6. There are so many subtle things going on in the soundtrack, I doubt that it
    could be "modernized" without losing some of its impact. Let's hope they leave
    it alone.

    7. There was a DTS credit in the new opening credits, so I assume this was a
    70mm DTS presentation. It sounded like it, as there was virtually no mag hiss.
    I forgot to confirm the DTS with the projectionist.

    Jim Thuoey, the local union guy who runs many of the big shows at the Cinerama
    (including the one), showed me the two-page contract that he personally had to
    sign saying that the print would be returned with every frame accounted for. I
    didn't personally see the markings, but Jim told me that the print was
    frame-marked "starting at about the 12th frame."

    This was the new print with the restored footage. Frankly, I thought it was a
    little long and *maybe* could benefit from a trim here or there, but overall I
    enjoyed the film and would be happy to see it again. It's such a visual film,
    with much going on within its wide, long shots (no close-ups), that I don't
    think it would play very well on tv. Seeing it in 70mm on a large screen was a
    definite treat.

    --Matt Lutthans, Seattle
     
    MLutthans, Aug 4, 2009
    #10
    Steve Litos likes this.
  11. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Lucky you !

    Interesting read, thanks. :righton:
     
    alexpop, Aug 4, 2009
    #11
  12. zobalob

    zobalob Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow, Scotland.
    zobalob, Aug 4, 2009
    #12
  13. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Tati's films are all about visual detail what with the lack of close-ups and frequent instances of significant background action. As much as that applies to all of his films, it goes double for Playtime.

    The Criterion Playtime DVD is generally quite good except for some edge ringing that becomes really prevalent and annoying on large screen/projection displays. I'm told that the Blu-ray has eliminated this problem. Couple that with improved detail and reduced compression artifacts, and it ought to be a real treat. I can't wait to take a gander at it.

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Aug 4, 2009
    #13
  14. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    What blu ray player will you use to view it?
     
    alexpop, Aug 4, 2009
    #14
  15. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    I have a Panasonic DMP-BD10 attached to my Panasonic PT-AE900U projector. I "kick it old school" with 720p and BD Profile 1.0. :laugh:

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Aug 4, 2009
    #15
  16. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    Location:
    Driebergen, The Netherlands
    I'll try this question here first before I start it's own thread.
    There's a new 'remastered' version out from "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" from the print from the early '60s (88 minutes) and a remastered one from 1953 (95 minutes), the last one with remastered sound.


    Has anyone seen these version (or versions) yet? Any improvement on my bfi-DVD, which seems to come from a release from the late '70s?
     
    Yovra, Oct 13, 2010
    #16
  17. Matthew B.

    Matthew B. Scream Quietly

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    It's probably a more complicated restoration project. It was filmed in both colour and black-and-white.
     
    Matthew B., Oct 13, 2010
    #17
  18. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Location:
    Colorado Springs, CO
    The Criterion blu-ray for Playtime is pretty fantastic btw.
     
    Synthfreek, Oct 13, 2010
    #18
  19. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    Location:
    Driebergen, The Netherlands
    ...hmm...that's the trouble with resurrecting an old thread...getting answers on a question from quite a long time ago....
     
    Yovra, Oct 13, 2010
    #19
  20. johnnyyen

    johnnyyen Senior Member

    Location:
    Scotland
    You could also add the recent animated feature, The Illusionist, which adapts a previously unfilmed screenplay by Tati, and features him as one of the characters. I have yet to see it but it's a highly regarded film from the makers of the excellent Belleville Rendevous.

    The Illusionist
     
    johnnyyen, Oct 13, 2010
    #20
  21. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Mon Oncle (1958) Is the most beautifully filmed movie I ever saw.
     
    inperson, Oct 14, 2010
    #21
  22. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian

    Location:
    North York (Toronto) Ontario, Canada
    Great! I really love this film. I have the BR but haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
     
    Khorn, Oct 14, 2010
    #22
  23. Robert Campion

    Robert Campion New Member

    Location:
    Thailand
    I Don't Get Jacques Tati

    *Sigh* Once upon a time I thought I could appreciate nearly everything, or at least the best of every type of thing. Now I'm not so sure.

    A long time ago, I attempted a watch of "M. Hulot's Holiday." I didn't like it. Clearly, Hulot is the prototype for Mr. Bean, but this is a long way from the situational comedy of that show. I tried to watch "Trafic," and I still don't get it. Sure "Trafic" has visual appeal and an absolutely manic frame, but, uh, where are the jokes? People picking their noses in traffic? Yeah, really?

    Example: Hulot puts his can of gasoline down in the foreground of the frame, walks to the background, waits for the car to stop, and then runs up to the foreground, picks up the can, and runs back to the background to get in the car.

    So, like other threads of the past, please explain it to me. Am I misguided in expecting this to be funny?

    I think Mr. Heavyfoot is funnier:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9d2Y1We-d0
     
    Robert Campion, Nov 4, 2010
    #23
  24. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Location:
    Marysville, WA, Salina, KS, Los Angeles, CA
    Seeing the Hulot films in a dark theatre with no distractions is a world apart from seeing them on a computer or on TV at home, FWIW. One of my favorite movie experiences ever was seeing PLAYTIME in 70mm, but it needs to be truly WATCHED, not just "looked at." These are movies that demand a fair amount from the viewer in terms of attention.

    Matt
     
    MLutthans, Nov 4, 2010
    #24
    Steve Litos and john hp like this.
  25. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    Location:
    Driebergen, The Netherlands
    It's hard to explain.
    I think comedy in movies is often "in your face"; jokes are played out in close-up, drawn out. On TV you get a laugh-track or studio-audience to point out that a punch-line must be funny.
    Tati is the opposite of that. Funny things happen when you're observing scenes at a bar, in a station. They're not pointed out, you have to 'find' the clumsy stumble by someone or the funny noise someone makes blowing his nose.
    I saw my first Tati-movie about fifteen years ago; it was "Jour de Fete" and it's his first feature film. I didn't 'get' it first, nothing was really happening, there was this postman being very busy, drunk or a combination of the two. Gradually I 'got' it by taking in the relaxed atmosphere.
    The most important part of "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" isn't Tati the actor, but the atmosphere of that French village by the sea and the characters that try to have a nice time. And there are some laugh-out-loud moments! My personal favourite is the table-tennis-scene; all you hear is squeeky shoes, the ticking of the ball and one glimpse of Hulot's elegant foot-work.
    I agree that "Trafic" is a bit half hearted-it seems to me it's Tati trying to revive his Hulot-character one last time after the commercial (not artistic!) failure of Playtime.

    After seeing Tati at work I can hardly appreciate the "Mr. Bean"-shows anymore and I lovede them quite a lot a few years ago. I now think they're heavy-handed, crude and even agressive. Well, that may be the difference between the '50s in France and the 90's in the UK....

    My advice: pour a glass of wine, have the cheese handy and take your time with "Jour de Fete" on a nice screen; if you 'get' it you'd feel like you had a small vacation in the south of France!
     
    Yovra, Nov 4, 2010
    #25
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