Tonight I watched Truffaut's 400 Blows at the local Revue theatre. It had been awhile since I last saw the film and I'd forgotten several scenes. For example, the puppet show scene shown below. It's one thing to watch it on DVD at home from your couch but seeing it on the big screen with an audience is an especially unusual moment. There you are, with a mostly adult audience staring at a screen full of children's faces staring back at you. Oddly, it really reminded me of a piece of video from the New York Times where a photographer filmed kids playing video games. It's worth opening the New York Times video in a new tab in your browser for a side by side comparison of kids separated by 50 years.



Yeah. The French kids are cuter.

Labels: art, film

When is Objectified coming to T.O.?

Am I going to have to illegally download this movie too? Not that I would.
just saying is all...

Posted via email from peterrogers's posterous

Labels: film

When I grow up, I'd like to work for the good people at Criterion.

Thank You.

Labels: design, film, media

Of course, I'd heard of Jacques Tati… well, okay, I hadn't really heard of him so much as I'd seen the well designed DVD covers at the video store. After reading about Tati's films I thought I'd see what was inside those attractive cases. "Play Time" by Tati revels in placing his Mr. Bean-like character, Monsieur Hulot in an overwhelmingly modernist Paris. The film plays out almost like a black and white silent movie, though really it's just mostly wordless with a subtly coloured palette.

While the movie is basically a setting for Mr. Hulot's visual gags and misadventures (when there is dialogue, it's almost awkward), the over riding theme is the impersonal and alienating nature of modernism. One side story shows an American tourist hoping to find the "real" Paris but only occasionally catches glimpses of landmarks as reflections in shop windows or glass doors (a travel agency shows posters for Mexico, New York, Rome and London, all with identical architecture).

Even though the city is portrayed as cold and stark, I couldn't help but enjoy the minimally furnished rooms and openness created by large pane glass windows. Even more remarkable is that all the incredible sets were created for the film (this is one time when the DVD extras have to be seen). In the last part of the film, Tati has fun at a designer's expense by showcasing a new restaurant where the design wreaks havoc on the staff and customers. Despite all that, Tati reveals his love of the city when the incredibly choreographed ending culminates with the bustling traffic and crowds turn Paris into a circus.

Watch a clip from Play Time

Labels: design, film