Since we have a following on the Live Notes series, I am glad to announce another hell-bending event happening tomorrow night, at 9PM, Friday, October 22: the breaking down of Jacques Tati's masterpiece, Play Time (1967). Auditoire has seen the film thrice since the first encounter earlier this year. Because of its unmistakable brilliance in deep space staging and high achievements in terms of mise-en-scene, Auditoire is willing to take a leap of faith and dedicate my whole night tomorrow night on elucidating its mysteries through, once again, a frame-by-frame analysis. On a curious note, my last entry to this Live Notes series has been seriously cut off due to some glitches in the copy of the film. I am very much hoping that technical difficulties will be prevented as much as possible tomorrow night. If the case is bad, we'll replace the film with another feature coming from the list below.
From Dan North's review:
"The spaces of Playtime are inimical to human beings. The film is full of hard, slippery surfaces, there discomforts accentuated by their coupling with abrasive, repetitive or incoherent noises. Chairs hiss and squeak when pressed, intercoms and PA systems deliver monotonous or unintelligible drones."On another piece by Only the Cinema
"An apartment block is turned into a cutaway Brechtian stage like the kind Godard would later employ in Tout Va Bien; Tati uses this setup for a series of deadpan, entirely silent gags about the conformity and complacency of modern families, who settle into box-like homes and stare at their walls to watch TV."
Hence, we'll explore on that.
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COMING SOON
on LIVE! NOTES Weekly Series:
[not in order of viewing schedule]
(1) Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light (2007)
(2) Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
(3) Robert Bresson's L'Argent (1983)
(4) Tsai Ming-Liang's What Time is it There? (2001)
(5) Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay (The Execution of P, 2009)
(6) Lino Brocka's Orapronobis (1989)
(7) Claire Dennis' Beau Travail (1999)
(8) a try on Lav Diaz's Heremias (Book One: The Legend of the Lizard Princess) (2006)
(9) Jia Zhang-ke's Platform (2000)
(10) a try on Godard's Film Socialisme (2010)
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Meanwhile,
BFI LONDON is having their great, great, great 54th London Film Festival. Check it out now!
****Ciao!
