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Monday, September 08, 2008 • 06:00 am |
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2 • POSTED ON June 28, 2008 CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS PLAYTIME: THE CINEMA OF JACQUES TATI JULY 5 – AUGUST 9
CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS PLAYTIME: THE CINEMA OF JACQUES TATI JULY 5 – AUGUST 9
On the centenary of his birth, the Canadian Film Institute is pleased to present a retrospective of the work of one of the 20th Century's most incisive, rigorous, and talented cinematic comedians, Jacques Tati. Presented with the generous support of and in collaboration with the Embassy of France, who assume Presidency of the European Union on July 1st, the retrospective includes five comic gems from the French master.
Born Jacques Tatischeff in 1908, this comedic genius single-handedly reinvented the art of slapstick cinematic comedy. Tati's films consist of elaborate, choreographed visual gags and carefully integrated sound effects. In almost all his works, Tati plays the socially inept Mr. Hulot with his trademark raincoat, umbrella and pipe. Like Charlie Chaplin's tramp, Hulot is a brilliant comedic creation. Tati's tautly constructed, prescient comedies comment on social hypocrisy, rampant consumerism, and the alienating effects of technology. The five films to be screened:
Tati’s debut film, JOUR DE FETE (1947, 79 min.), a whimsical tale about a postman’s misadventures during a one-day fair in a small French village.
LES VACANCES DE MONSIEUR HULOT (1953, 114 min.), Tati’s charming introduction to his Mon. Hulot character, following his hilarious exploits while on vacation in the south of France.
Tati’s first colour film, MON ONCLE (1958, 117 min.), which centres on Mon. Hulot’s struggle with postwar France’s obsession with modernity and American-style consumerism in a crowded Parisian neighborhood.
Tati’s masterful PLAYTIME (1967, 124 min.), which took him nine years to complete and nearly bankrupted him. Tati’s Hulot wanders through a hyper-modern Paris – an elaborate fabricated set Tati constructed on the outskirts of Paris (dubbed ‘Tativille’) –inadvertently setting into motion a series of superbly comic incidents.
Closing the retrospective, TRAFIC (1971, 96 min.) finds Mon. Hulot as a bumbling automobile inventor travelling to an exhibition in a gadget-filled recreational vehicle. Of course, along the way Hulot and his compatriots run into every kind of traffic obstacle imaginable.
All films are in French with English subtitles.
All screenings are in the Auditorium of the National Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellinton.
PLAYTIME: THE CINEMA OF JACQUES TATI
Sat. July 5, 19:00 – JOUR DE FETE Sat. July 12, 19:00 – LES VACANCES DE MONSIEUR HULOT Sat. July 19, 19:00 – MON ONCLE Sat. July 26, 19:00 – PLAYTIME Sat. Aug. 9, 19:00 – TRAFIC
Tickets are $10 without a CFI membership, and only $6 for members. Annual memberships are available at all screenings for only $10. Phone the CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE at (613) 232-6727 or visit http://www.cfi-icf.ca for further details.
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