Official Jacques Tati Thread

Yes, in fact the central characater IS Tati himself. A true labour of ove, this animated feature is well worth seeing and as close as we'll ever get to a 'new' Tati movie. Go see.

 

For those who can do Region "B" Blu-Ray, BFI have just released "Les Vacances de M. Hulot" in an edition that contains both the original 1953 release version and the 1978 rerelease (and re-edit):

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare2/hulot-holiday.htm

No mention in the review about the different scores.

Howard

 

Every Tati-fan should watch "The Illusionist", directed by Sylvain Chomet. It's from a script from the great Tati himself; his daughter gave it to Chomet. It's an animated Tati-movie, very much in the style and feel of "Mon Oncle"
Here's the Trailer. The colours in the trailer a quite dull, for some reason; the movie itself is beautiful and (as with all Tati-movies) the surroundings and decor are playing an important part in the story!

 

FYI, Tati had a disciple, Pierre Étaix. He made a string of movies in the '60s, working with Jean-Claude Carrière (who wrote many screenplays for Buñuel or Milos Forman but had also collaborated with Tati on the original story for The Illusionist). He even got an Oscar for best short movie in 1963. After a box-office failure, he resumed his career as a circus clown.

Étaix's movies were unavailable for many years due to a lack of interest from the director himself then to a rights dispute, which is why few people know about him. The movies were reissued last year in France.

 

Mon Oncle makes a cameo in the animated film, BTW.

Ooh, did I like it! Makes me think, there really, really needs to be an Oscar category for, "Film Deserving Of Recognition That Can't Because Of The 600-Pound-Gorilla It's Running Against".

 

That's one of the funniest scenes in the movie! Tatischeff hiding in the cinema and seeing M. Hulot...
I agree about the Oscar-thing. Shouldn't there be a "Animated Movie that isn't made by Dreamworks or Pixar". On the other hand; neither Tati's movies nor Chomet's beautiful visions are meant for the "Disney" crowd, I guess.

Thanks for that tip!

 

L'Illusioniste is a great film, and a worthy addition to the Tati canon. As mentioned above, it was originally an unfilmed Tati script, and was due to be his next film after Mon Oncle, but he made Playtime instead. While there are changes in location, it remains faithful to the Tati original. I thought the "animated" Tati was brilliantly done, as was the recreated Edinburgh of the 1950s.

 

Actually, Tati had two projects in mind after "Mon Oncle", one with his usual collaborator Jacques Lagrange, named "Récréation", the other with Jean-Claude Carrière, "L'Illusionniste". He ultimately picked "Récréation" and chose to translate the title in English, hence "Play Time". Récréation has however two meanings, both the activity of playing and recess in school. We shouldn't forget about the school thing.

 

The Illusionist is quite good ,
anyone seen the Blu-ray ?

 

I've got my ticket! Can't wait!

 

The great jazz artist Steve Lacy was a big Tati fan. I spent several days with Lacy in the late eighties and he talked quite extensively about Tati's films. I have "Playtime" on blu-ray and have seen a number of the others on DVD. Tati was amazing and I'll get any of his work Criterion (or anyone else) decides to make available in HD.

 

TCMHD has been airing
a nice looking print of Jour de fête

 

Saw it last night, in fact! It is a nice print.

 

Another 70mm screening of Playtime, this time at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY.

They're showing it Friday night and Saturday afternoon. If your Saturday's free, they're showing Lawrence of Arabia that night as well, also in 70mm, and admission gets you into everything the day of - the museum, all films, everything. Not bad for $12.

 

I was excited to see today that on Oct. 28 Criterion is releasing a box set of all of Tati films on BD and DVD:

http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/10...gn Monitor&utm_term=The Complete Jacques Tati

 

Yessir, put in a pre-order for that bad boy today. Pity it wouldn't be out for summertime as that's the ideal time for Tati, IMO, but M. Hulot never goes out of style.

 

Price just came down to $79.55 CAD at Amazon.ca!

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00LUSUWSQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

 

Here's a little piece about his not-so-dr run for Jour de Fete:

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/jacques-tati-school-for-postmen.html

 

http://www.criterion.com/films/28114-jour-de-fete?q=autocomplete

 

In regards to The Illusionist, this letter was sent to Roger Ebert by Richard McDonald, Tati's middle grandson.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/directors/the-shame-of-jacques-tati.html

 

Interesting.