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A completely original filmmaker, Jacques Tati took the best of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and filtered them through his modernist sensibility and his genius for observing everyday life. The result was unique and perfect comedies that teach us to see anew the world outside the cinema. In Tati’s 1967 masterpiece PlayTime, American tourists intersect with Paris denizens throughout a busy day and a raucous evening in the modern city. Few other films benefit as much from being seen on the big screen, because Tati was a true visual artist who filled each frame with arresting detail. PlayTime’s climactic 45-minute sequence of the slow unraveling of a restaurant’s opening night flawlessly juggles dozens of characters and uncountable gags, sometimes occurring simultaneously, with a virtuosity unlikely to ever be equaled in comedy film.
Though he was a legendary performer, Tati minimized his own presence in PlayTime, spreading the comedy out among more characters in order to reveal just how much humor there is in everyday situations and among ordinary people. It is nothing short of miraculous that this visionary comic philosophy made it to the screen intact through an arduous three-year production process. Both the humor and its underlying philosophy have aged extraordinarily well. With its life-affirming insistence on the right to find comedy wherever we are, PlayTime remains funny, poignant, and relevant – a radical act of kindness in a foreboding world.
JACQUES TATI'S PLAYTIME is a Film Love event. The Film Love series provides access to great but rarely seen films, especially important works unavailable on consumer video. Programs are curated and introduced by Andy Ditzler, and feature lively discussion. Through public screenings and events, Film Love preserves the communal viewing experience, provides space for the discussion of film as art, and explores diverse forms of moving image projection and viewing.
