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RE: My Favourite Films: Jacques Tati's Play Time
wow !! A great subject and post !! My all time favourite film-maker ! A total genius and true visionary concerning the development of the human race and their changing attitudes. had to up vote this !!
His films although deep are such a pick me up. Have you seen the old stuff? The Big Day, I think really captures that 'old world' Paris. They are just the best.
i think that Tati explained that he shot this film in a little village which hid him during the war as he was a resistant. He had promised the village that when the war was over he would come there and make a film in their village !! Or indeed was that not the postman. he made so many huge films, they are just incredible, but by far my favorite is of course Playtime, but closely followed by Mon Oncle !!
Which perfectly depicts the death of the popular way of life in France being replaced by the more insular, nouveau riches sorts that lived behind their gates of steel, robotized of course. A true genius this man, but sadly little known as his talent was purposefully buried by a community of French elitist cineastes and critics that hated him for his rebellious ideas and true "genie !! "
What a great backstory to Big Day! Mon Oncle is exactly as you say. The sister-in-laws fountain that she only turns on for guests that she wants to impress.
and the automated kitchen!
yes you see, he knew exactly exactly what was coming. The not so smart generation of the future !! ; - ) Did you know also that he built a huge replica of the all new at the time Defense district for the film Playtime ! He put in lots of his budget to build it and had the intention and desire to leave it there so that new young film makers in France might be inspired and use it for their films. but of course as always with Tati, the establishment destroyed this beautiful gesture and knocked it back down to a pile of useless rubble !!!
What a tragedy. I had heard of Tativille, but I always assumed it was preserved in some state!