Official Jacques Tati Thread

Give Mon Oncle a shot. If that fails, forget it.

 

What Dotwacky said. He's generally more "clever" than "funny." I think Playtime is great, but it doesn't make me laugh.

 

Could ther Gorts adjust the topic header to spell Jacques Tati's name correctly? That's T-a-t-i-s-c-h-e-f-f...

 

Shoulda started with Playtime IMO.

 

+1
'Cours de Soir" is also good but it may be a tad hard to find this short film.
Besides, IMO stay away from 'Playtime' for the time being.

I love his films and I'd wish to see the 155 minute version of Playtime. OP also made me aware that I do not see his films in search of the jokes, but I do because they're beautiful 'films'.

 

Well, I certainly appreciate the time necessary to set up all the parts, and maybe my problem was that I expected a comedy. (Somebody finds this stuff funny for it be classified as such) I get the message and the dry observation of culture. For example, in "Trafic," we begin in a car factory and are bombarded with "traffic" albeit of the human kind.

The problem for me is that without drama, character, or comedy, it's all like watching the thousands of pieces of a complex machine . . .

 

Yes, they are beautiful films rather than just comedies!

 

i just picked up the 2 disc criterion collection version of playtime for 50 cents at a flea market. i'm looking forward to seeing it.

 

Yes, give Playtime a shot. It dropped my jaw. The Criterion blu-ray is divine.

 

I recall that 'Cours de Soir' can be seen on the Playtime DVD.

Playtime! If only see the choreography (Merry Go-Round) of the cars on the way to the airport at the end of the film, it makes me very happy. 'Trafic' has a similar choreography of the cars, too. If it doesn't appeal to you, IMO Playtime doesn't, too.

 

That's why I proposed "Jour de Fete" as a starter. The comedy is still at it's most 'recognizable' and there is a story! Well, for a bit. It's less 'loaded' with symbolism.
I don't really know why the esteemed fellow forum-users propose Playtime . It's Tati's most accomplished movie, but also his most 'difficult'.

 

Agreed. It's most difficult.

 

I have a hard time distinguishing "difficult" films from normal/traditional films I guess. I do like good films and Playtime is just that.

 

BTW, was the negative of full length 155m. version of Playtime lost?

 

The Kent Jones essay found with the Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray suggests an initial running time of 151 minutes. In any case, as Tati kept editing it down himself, and then he lost control of all his films and materials through bankruptcy, the original version may no longer exist. Can't recall if any home video version presents any of the trims as outtakes or deleted scenes.

Even "Vacances" features a sequence with a collapsing kayak that only shows up in its 1978 rerelease (and current versions only run 87 minutes while some sources claim an original length of 114 minutes; similarly, the original release is claimed to have a piano score only), so pinning down original versions may already be impossible.

Howard

 

Thanks, Howard.

The music score on each film is important feature and quite fun. Although he used different composers, they all sound Tati's music!

 

it's ok. few people get everything.

 

bump

 

My favourite Tati-films are in order:

1) Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot: a more 'ironic' view is there, but it's a perfect introduction to the introvert but impressive Hulot. The remastered version from 2009 is a marvel; crips images and a great way to get to know Tati's masterful vision!
2) Jour de Fete: still very much under the influence of Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton, but the 'storyline' is already drawn out; this could have been a 20-minute short about an ambitious postman, but it turns into a nice atmospheric movie about a village. I love the colour-version!
3) Mon Oncle: we meet M. Hulot at home and his brother-in-law tries to humour Hulot's sister (appearantly) to give him a factory-job. Great gags, the one with the cigarette-lighter at the end of the movie always cracks me up. More 'comments' on the alienation of the people in their surroundings; the house 'from the future' seems to be a hostile place to be.
4) Playtime; one long comment on city-life and the fact there isn't really place for people. Hulot seems (and is!) lost for most of the time. Still; his precense alone can cause mayhem and chaos!
5) Trafic: made with dutch director Bert Haanstra. It's a patchy film with a few nice jokes (the wheelcap!) and some breathtaking photography.

I haven't seen Parade yet. Is that a good movie?

 

Re : Jour de Fete , did they colourize the entire
film ? i've just seen a vhs print with some tinted
scenes , i've still not seen Parade , is there plans
to issue it ?

thanks

 

The Onion - Area Man Really Wants To Like The Marx Brothers

 

No, it was shot simultaneously in B/W and Thomsoncolor, but the color negative was never processed. I think one story says that the process for creating a color print was prohibitively expensive, another says the company went under before the negative could be processed (either way the process was very short-lived). In any case, a color print was finally struck in 1995. Frames I've seen seem to confirm the inferiority of the process. The B/W version featured some hand-tinting.

Howard

 

Inferiority?!? I think it adds to the experience. It's hardly Technicolor, but it has the colours of an old postcard.

 

Says this is adapted from an original screenplay by Jacques Tati. Same guy? The animation is beautiful, by the way.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPdLrxxo4mg