Play Time
“Jacques Tati’s 1967 Playtime depicts an urban enclave of International-Style architecture, ubiquitous technology, commodified encounters, and alienated people that manages, somehow, to result in a comedic romance in which folks learn to find their way in a city that doesn’t function as efficiently as its planners would hope…”
March 30th, 2007 at 11:20 am
thanks alot for this, i’m currently looking for film’s with an architectural element. this one sure fit’s my need’s.
March 31st, 2007 at 10:39 am
I don’t know who the author of this description of Playtime is, but I take issue with one particular comment found therein: that Tati’s film, like those of Charlie Chaplin, can be viewed silent “with little difference in effect.” I understand that this suggestion was intended to align the genius of Tati’s physical comedy with that of Chaplin, and I think the comparison is valid. But I think this point can be made equally well without discounting the soundtrack. The suggestion that you can “get” a Tati film without listening to it does an egregious disservice to Tati’s enormous labour on the sound design. Playtime is a film about acoustic ecology as much as anything else. I know of no account of Tati that doesn’t emphasize the importance of his use of sound, so this comment is a bit baffling - especially since earlier in the description the author DOES mention the soundscape of the film. The number of sociopolitically loaded sound-gags in this film is so large that to view it silent would destroy the experience beyond repair. If there was no sound, would we laugh when the seemingly non-diegetic music at the end of the film comes to a stop, only to begin again as a motorist plugs his parking meter as though it were a jukebox? Would the theme of human isolation within the international architectural style play out nearly as well if Tati didn’t build such a strong contrast between the stifled and electrically charged interior of the glass waiting room and the open environmental soundscape that exists just outside? Such examples are endless in each and every one of Tati’s films. He was one of the world’s great sound designers, and I am unaware of any filmmaker whose work would be harmed more by neglecting attention to the soundtrack.
My two cents.
March 31st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
art torrents, you’re welcome.
randolph, the author is Dr. Andrew Wood