Criterion will be bringing The Complete Jacques Tati to DVD and Blu-ray on October 28, delivering Tati’s six feature films — Jour de fête, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Mon oncle, PlayTime, Trafic and Parade — as well as seven of his short films. Of that lot, PlayTime, the film many consider to be his masterpiece, has not only received a new 4K digital restoration, but it will be playing the BFI’s Southbank as part of a wider Jacques Tati season in November.
[amz asin=”B00LUSUWSQ” size=”small”]I back in August 2009 and wrote of its plot:
PlayTime follows Monsieur Hulot played by Tati himself as he makes his way from one setting to the next, but Hulot, this time, is not the main focus of attention. Instead, modern architecture is the theme as it dictates human behavior from straight lines in the film’s early moments at Orly Airport to a giant business building made of steel and glass. Also, just as in Mon Oncle an attention to gadgetry and machinery is noted, but not to the same extent – thankfully. Instead, the film moves to a classic scene of comparative domestic dwellings to the fantastic second half set in a chic nightclub restaurant where anything that could go wrong does. The patrons love it, the restaurant is ruined and Hulot experiences all of it, occasionally causing the havoc and at other times becoming a victim of it.
Shot in 70mm on a massive set that came to be known as “Tativille”, which was later destroyed with Tati famously captured throwing the screenplay for PlayTime into the rubble. This scene can be seen in a special feature on the Criterion Blu-ray and will most certainly be included in the new box set, which looks to be Criterion’s most own of the latter portion of 2014.
