Play Time (aka PlayTime/1967/Criterion
Collection Blu-ray)
Picture: B+ Sound:
B Extras: B Film: A
Jacques Tati was the comic genius of the French New Wave,
a master of mime and a as it turns out, filmmaking. His Mr. Hulot became as iconic as Chaplin’s
little tramp and was a character always at odds with technology. After many a hit film as Hulot, he embarked
on a massive comic undertaking.
Hollywood was already making large-frame format comedies like The Pink Panther (reviewed elsewhere on
this site) and It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad,
Mad, World, but his idea was a spectacular without any stars (save himself)
and the result was his masterpiece, Play
Time.
I will state from the outset that I have been a huge fan
of the film for years and along with 2001:
A Space Odyssey and Lawrence Of
Arabia, it is the greatest large-frame 70mm-produced film ever made. An independently produced project, Tati went
overbudget on his own money, spending a fortune on production and sets, then
watching his masterwork both fail and languish for years. It arrived in 1967 and would not arrive in
the U.S. until 1972. Recently, it was
finally saved and restored, resulting in Criterion issuing the film twice on
DVD alone. Now we have this new Blu-ray
and it is the only version to own.
I was very vocal about my disappointment with the first
Criterion DVD, shocked at how poor the film looked and sounded. They agreed and reissued the film in a newer
version that included missing footage and a somewhat better transfer. I have seen the film in film several times
(in 35mm) and knew how much better it looked and the newer DVD still did not
get it. However, I knew the restoration
was on the way and the result is another one of Criterion’s great Blu-ray
releases with demo-quality moments for any serious movie fan and home theater
owner.
In collaboration with his greatest co-writer Jacques
Lagrange, the story takes place over a 24-hour period where Mr. Hulot has an
nondescript business appointment, a new restaurant is about to open and a group
of American tourists have arrived to take in the sites of a beautiful city
whose landmarks and distinctions are being homogenized by modernism, the
modernist look and modernist designs like all the other major cites of the
world. The action also takes place at
the airport, on the streets, in new offices, at a technology fare and even a
neon-filled pharmacy!
The people, locations and technology vie for the focus of
the film; the world is so made of clean lines, open interior spaces and subsections
that it is almost like watching a science fiction film. That it was one year ahead of 2001 in some of its look is amazing and
makes for the perfect companion piece on that level. The Hulot character is as charming as ever
and just a few minutes into the film, it seems anything can happen and does.
To say more would ruin the jokes and surprises, but the
film is brilliant beyond words, Tati’s ultimate love letter to city life
(especially Paris) and is worthy of the best comic work of Chaplin and anyone
else before or since. Besides offering
screwball comedy elements, the depth of the cleverness and irony is still
remarkable and this is a film that only gets better with age. Except for one scene still missing from the
pharmacy (maybe that was never intended in the final cut by Tati, but we could
not find out by the time of this posting), this is the complete film and it is
nice to finally see the film get the disc release it deserves. Like 2001,
it took high definition Blu-ray to do it justice, but that makes sense.
The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image comes from
a 35mm reduction print from the original 2.20 X 1 65mm camera negative aspect
ratio. Though I wished the transfer
would be from 65mm like the Blu-rays of 2001,
Baraka, South Pacific and the better IMAX releases (including those IMAX
moments from Dark Knight), I was
very pleasantly surprised (after the credits, which do not look as good as the
rest of the film) how fine this transfer turned out to be.
Shot with Mitchell 65mm equipment, France has not looked
this good since Funny Face (1957,
reviewed elsewhere on this site) and rarely this good since. Sure, there are sets and other massive
production design, but the compositions are superior, clever and the visuals
are always loaded with comic and ironic information. You cannot watch this film twice and ever get
the same experience, which is the point and Tati had two Directors of
Photography (Jean Badal, Andréas Winding) for the massive undertaking and it
pays off.
Though this is the first time a 35mm reduction print was
used for a Blu-ray of a 70mm release, the My
Fair Lady restoration transfer used a special 35mm reduction print. However, that was anamorphic (35mm reduction
prints of Lawrence Of Arabia were
recently issued in 2.35 X 1 scope prints) and this is a flat widescreen
presentation. The result is better
definition and a truer representation of the original cinematography. This 35mm reduction internegative is very
impressive, off of the restored 65mm interpositive, whose grain is more a
product of being on 35mm than anything from any 65mm/70mm source. Fortunately, that grain is minor, while the
color (EastmanColor), depth and detail can be stunning in many shots. That limits narrowly any idea of compromise
in the presentation.
Two soundtracks are available, including a repeat of the
International Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track from the DVD editions and featured
on U.S. release prints, but this sounds a little better than those. In addition, the original French soundtrack
is here in PCM 2.0 Stereo and both are worth listening to. The French soundtrack may not be as strong,
but that is because it is more naturalistic and the sounds are not as
sweetened. The international version has
many languages including English and sound effects tend to be louder and more
distinct (making them even funnier) while dubbing (when there is actually
dialogue at all) obvious voiceover work.
This is a very complex soundtrack worthy of the best films
of the time and one that is smarter than most film we get in this digital 5.1
sound era now. It was reported that Tati
had actually made an 8-track soundmaster for the film for special
presentations. The original 70mm release
had 6-track magnetic stereo (with five speakers behind the screen for
travelling dialogue and sound effects you can still hear here), while the
better 35mm prints had 4-track stereo and this restoration was issued in DTS
70mm prints. Why this Blu-ray does not
have two DTS tracks is a mystery, but the sound is still fine and Tati’s estate
may have wanted to save the multi-channel experience for 70mm projection
only. That is understandable. Add the clever, hilarious score (by Francis
Lemarque, James Campbell and David Steen) along with so much of the sound
design and even in two-channels derived at the 24 bit level from the original
stereo stems, this is an impressive presentation.
Together, you get the complete experience as much as
possible in what is likely to become a very special demo Blu-ray for the most
serious film fans.
Extras include a paper pullout with technical details on
the film and Jonathan Rosenbaum essay on the film The Dance Of Playtime inside the Blu-ray case, while the Blu-ray
itself adds a video interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot, rare
audio interview with Tati from the films 1972 premiere in the U.S. at the San
Francisco International Film Festival, the short Cours du soir (1967) that is tied to this film, a short biographic
work called Tati Story, select scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp,
video introduction by writer/director/performer Terry Jones, a 1976 BBC Omnibus
installment on Tati called “Jacques Tati
in Monsieur Hulot’s Work” and short vintage documentary about the making of
the film called Au-dela de “Playtime”.
If you have a Blu-ray player you must own this disc or if
you intend to buy one, make this one of the first discs you get!
- Nicholas Sheffo
