Playtime

Brilliant. Absolutely amazing. I don't even know where to start in describing Jacques Tati's masterpiece. There is no story, only incidents. There are no characters, only recognizable faces (one of which, of course, being Tati's M. Hulot). It's a truly visionary work with an aesthetic so rigorous as to be compared to Bresson or Antonioni, but on a larger, grander scale. There are a few major set-pieces -- an airport terminal, a building lobby/office complex/showroom floor, an apartment complex, and a restaurant. It is a world enclosed in glass and filled with comic mishaps of such subtlty and precision that its almost difficult to even call it a comedy, or put it in any genre for that matter. The production design is meticulous and extraordinary and Tati makes the best use of 70mm that I have ever seen. His compositions are almost exclusively wide shots which encompass an entire world of carefully crafted action, and his camera watches it all, as we recognize the complexities of his vision. Tati, and this film in particular, is difficult to explain (at least for me). His films must be experienced to be understood, and this is best experienced in its native format on the big screen, where the intricacies aren't hidden by a television screen.