StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ian (Flash Review)This film is about harmony vs dissonance; minimal, modern, uniformity and pattern. It is virtually a silent film with long takes which allow the viewer to notice everything from big to small in the frame. Overall, this an extremely stylish approach at highlighting the pitfalls of a hyper-modern society. There really is no plot aside from following a man named Mr. Hulot as he tries in vein to connect with some businessman. The first half was quirky Frenchness done to perfection with everything in a modern world portrayed in hyper-proper order accentuated by clever timing and striking cinematography. Yet Mr. Hulot is comically out of step with his surroundings; he's on the offbeat in this world. In contrast to the first half, the second half is full of dissonance. It focuses on an upscale restaurant's grand opening and everything that could go wrong, goes wrong yet the staff keeps their composure despite the absurdity of it all. It wasn't as funny or as visually stimulating as the first half. In fact it felt tedious at times and various gags were drawn out too long. Overall, the film is full of physical, light quirky humor and visually clever gags, where unrelated happenings are randomly in sync or in conflict. Many of the jokes were sound effect focused as the dialog was at most sparse. French at its most Frenchness.

writers_reign There are films that unless seen and reviewed within (ideally) days or at worst weeks of their opening achieve a notoriety that makes it difficult to view them with an open mind at a later date. Greed and Heaven's Gate spring to mind, decades apart yet both the subject of reams of reportage for unacceptable length and exceeding the original budget by two, three, or even fourfold. Playtime belongs to this select group if only because Tati shared the ambitious scope of von Stroheim and Cimino and was eventually forced to sell the rights to his earlier triumphs, Jour de fete, M. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle, etc for peanuts in order to stave off bankruptcy. In addition the smart money says that if viewed in any format other than the 70mm which Tati intended you may as well not watch it all. So with all this baggage I finally watched it almost a half century after its initial release. Where words like satirical have been utilised I would say quirky. Clearly Tati was embittered at 'modern' (which to him was the 1960s) life and the massive inroads being made by technology - think what film he would make today on that subject - and addressed his concerns on celluloid. Whilst I applaud his vision and ambition my admiration outweighed my enjoyment something like sixty-forty.

brentsbag-1 Wow! I've never seen this. It's just amazing. I'm taking days to see it to savor it, just having a little each night for a simple dinner and Tennessee Whiskey.This is my favorite type of film.Does anyone know if Robert Altman and this director had any links?I feel like I'm watching Short Cuts.I want to see this in the original Cinerama Dome of Hollywood.I just don't understand the line requirement. I love this movie and will just try to send a good night, and I love you all who come to International Movie Data Based dot com.Love Brent Kliss

Ilpo Hirvonen Jacques Tati an actor, director and creator is the most elegant French director ever lived. He often combines slapstick humor with satire, superb acting with subtle narrative and elegant direction with beautiful cinematography. His production is very compact even that his career extends to the early 30's he only directed six films in 25 years. In addition to features he made a few short films. Jacques Tati's style was very subtle and elegant, he always reached to perfection. He was very ambitious and his visual masterpiece Play Time is his most ambitious film. It took about three years to film and it lead him into bankruptcy. In the gorgeous setting of Play Time Jacques Tati made a short film Cours du soir (Evening Classes, 1967) with the director Nicolas Ribowski. This is a proof how much effort he put in the visual scenery of Play Time and he wanted to take all the advantage of it.Play Time is often seen in the "top 100 must see" -lists made by film critics, historians and experts. But many give a word of warning to the people watching it. It's basically a film without a plot, without one main character, it's a very unusual film: "It is a film that comes from another planet, where they make films differently. Play Time can perhaps be Paris of 1968 made by the first Martian filmmaker" Francois Truffaut. Many filmmakers have done plot less films like these: Jean-Luc Godard's Week End and Federico Fellini's Roma. But something makes Play Time different from these masterful films. Play Time on the surface seems crazy, but one who looks below the surface will see that it is geographically perfect like Robert Bresson's films for instance. There is not a single useless picture and every sound is a source of comedy to Tati.Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati's standard character kept turning into an outsider more and more film by film. In Jour de fête (1949) Tati's character (an early version of M. Hulot, though under a different name) spontaneously decided to help a town to arrange a festival, and he still was in the work life. In Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) M. Hulot was relaxing on a holiday and then in Mon oncle (1958) he finally was a completely inactive man, who was tried to put into the normal life by his sister and brother in law. In Play Time we don't know what M. Hulot is up to, we know very little about him. But what is certain is that he only runs into other characters by coincidence - he is a total outsider just as the other characters.The change of habitat was a common subject for Jacques Tati, which all of his films dealt with. Mon oncle ironically showed the mad modern technology, consumer hysteria and the destruction of old habitat. In Jour de fete he showed a town being americanized and in Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot he ironically portrayed mass tourism. In Play Time the themes of mechanization of life, globalization, the destruction of old core values and habitat have been taken to a brand new level.In Play Time M. Hulot is once again face to face against the ultra modern Paris. He is trying to deliver something in the glass wall postmodern maze, but loses his way from an officer and ends up in a grotesque trade fairs. Alongside with this adventure of M. Hulot we are showed the stages of an estranged American group of tourists. M. Hulot and the tourists come across with the most bizarre things one will see: Greek trashcans, silent doors and futuristic furniture. The tourists see the soulless hygiene, the futuristic airports, hotels and cityscapes, product overviews and delusions. The tourists see Paris as elusive and nonexistent: the reflections of the Eiffel tower and Sacre Coeur reflect on the soulless modern glass walls. This incredible consumer hysteria and futility of the world culminates in the metaphorical restaurant sequence where the decoration and the whole construction start to collapse.In Play Time Jacques Tati doesn't point the finger at the people, he doesn't blame us for this madness. The warmth Tati deals with his characters - to people in general is beautiful. Even that Jacques Tati shows the hurry inside of the people: everyone are hectic and living without a deep bond with each other. The people rely on coincidence, misperceptions and Tati seems to understand them and shows the sympathetic, humane side of the people. He deals with the destruction of environment and habitat but doesn't blame the people for it at all. He was a humanist who still had faith in humanity.As I mentioned earlier Tati always reached out to perfection and in Play Time the accurate work with photos and sound is brilliant, probably something no one else will ever be able to create. The visual and auditive gags are amazing - the richness in each one of them is impossible to see on the first viewing and I am really looking forward to see Play Time again. The film deals with the mechanization of life, the destruction of the environment, habitat and values. Play Time shows how consumerism and globalization have put unique places and societies to the same plain modern mold. Jacques Tati ironically portrayed the bad sides of market economy, capitalism and shows the hurry inside of us, but he doesn't take a direct political stand, he wasn't a very political person and the few political views he had were green and ecological. Play Time is a subtle life-enhancing, elegant masterpiece.