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  1. Villa
    Villa / 12-2-2015 / ·

    Girish, I’m very jealous. Ivens I have wisehd to see for years, and as for Playtime, well, I have seen it, but never in 70mm. Playtime’s name is well chosen. I had seen it after seeing Mon Oncle, and I always considered Mon Oncle a very bittersweet movie. One could see the death of the old France and it’s sterile concrete replacement coming. When I saw this film, I kind of dreaded Playtime, thinking it would be another indictment on modern life. (I saw his films in roughly chronological order) Boy, was I wrong. Playtime found this universe to be an amusing new playground. A series of false images, reflections, and inanimate objects commenting and even conversing. Glass abounds everywhere and is always a barrier. You never knew quite where you are, and everywhere Hulot (or a false Hulot) edges into the frame. Note that the women in the tour group who come to see Paris, never see the Paris we think of (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, etc.) except in reflection as they’re hustled around. It’s all a mad, buzzing hive of airports, hotels and restaruarts, and it’s as funny as anything I ever saw from Tati. The only bad thing about the film (in a social way) is that you have to be a real movie nut to like it. Most people I’ve known read movies pretty superficially and want things spelled out for them. Playtime spells nothing out, and as you wrote, has no plot to speak of, just a day and night in a small part of the city. I’ve tried it on friends who don’t know much about movies and it’s been a disaster. The utter perversity of its approach drives them mad, they say nothing is happening, wish acts of violence happen, etc. I know they’re beyond redemption, and I don’t ever invite them to watch any films I care about anymore.

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