112 Playtime

[hearthesilence]

A 70mm presentation will happen in NYC at the Museum of the Moving Image this Friday, the 4th, at 7pm.

If you haven't seen this in 70mm on a big screen, please please please, do.

Aw man, I'm going to be out of town. On top of that, they're also showing it this Saturday aftenoon, AND Lawrence of Arabia (also in 70mm) later that night!! And one museum ticket gets you into both films!

[neal]

A 70mm presentation will happen in NYC at the Museum of the Moving Image this Friday, the 4th, at 7pm.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I caught both Playtime and Lawrence of Arabia.

Seeing Playtime on the big screen and with a crowd was an entirely different and fantastic experience.

[hearthesilence]

I would definitely have gone too but I had a friend's wedding to go to.

[PillowRock]

So if the blurb for a screening of Playtime ends with "Courtesy of the Criterion Collection" and has no mention of the projection medium, can we infer anything about what it is likely to be.

This is for a pair of screenings at the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, MD in the first weekend in March.

[Minkin]

Criterion Contraption

[Matango]

I wonder why Philip Kemp's selected-scene commentary on the Blu-ray is played over an SD version of the film.

[cdnchris]

They more than likely just decided to save the cost and reuse the one from the DVD instead of redoing it high-def.

[hearthesilence]

Finally saw this in 70mm at Lincoln Center.

First off, they didn't use the French language soundtrack - it was a multilingual soundtrack with obvious dubbing. (The first giveaway is the old couple at the beginning talking in English.)

However, this did not detract from the film. In fact, it may have made it more enjoyable and even more impressive. There were no subtitles - not for any of the dialogue regardless if it was in French, German or English. This allowed you to focus more on the visuals and not get distracted with reading anything, and with a film like this, dense with visual detail, it helps. The fact that very few, if any, lines of dialogue needed to be understood only emphasized the film's stature as a great, cinematic achievement.

In terms of visual quality, I was really impressed. I popped in Criterion's Blu-Ray disc when I got home and was disappointed at how much cleaner the 70mm print looked. (FWIW, the Criterion disc seems cooler than the print we saw - I know the BFI Blu-Ray is supposed to be a touch "greener" and from what I can tell from the screen captures I've found, the BFI disc looks more like the print we saw.) True, a Blu-Ray disc isn't going to match a 70mm projection, but the disc was transferred from 35mm film, was it not? I wonder if a transfer from 70mm would've been a huge benefit, albeit an expensive one.

[Niale]

I was always really impressed by my Playtime bluray... Until I myself saw it in 70mm.
I feel stupid watching it at home, I remember the scene with all the families huddled together...
trying to watch their tiny little tvs, pitiful miniature home movie's, inside their cramped little rooms,
not really together... Not apart, pitifully stacked and squeezed, the worst of both worlds. Whenever I feel like putting it in,
I suddenly feel like I should just be out walking around instead, in fact, after seeing it in 70mm, I have only ever sat through it at home once. I think its one of those films that really must be seen in large format with a community of film lovers.

[Brianruns10]

Finally saw this in 70mm at Lincoln Center.

First off, they didn't use the French language soundtrack - it was a multilingual soundtrack with obvious dubbing. (The first giveaway is the old couple at the beginning talking in English.)

However, this did not detract from the film. In fact, it may have made it more enjoyable and even more impressive. There were no subtitles - not for any of the dialogue regardless if it was in French, German or English. This allowed you to focus more on the visuals and not get distracted with reading anything, and with a film like this, dense with visual detail, it helps. The fact that very few, if any, lines of dialogue needed to be understood only emphasized the film's stature as a great, cinematic achievement.

In terms of visual quality, I was really impressed. I popped in Criterion's Blu-Ray disc when I got home and was disappointed at how much cleaner the 70mm print looked. (FWIW, the Criterion disc seems cooler than the print we saw - I know the BFI Blu-Ray is supposed to be a touch "greener" and from what I can tell from the screen captures I've found, the BFI disc looks more like the print we saw.) True, a Blu-Ray disc isn't going to match a 70mm projection, but the disc was transferred from 35mm film, was it not? I wonder if a transfer from 70mm would've been a huge benefit, albeit an expensive one.

It's why I've not upgraded my CC to the blu-ray. I'm holding out for a definitive release of this film. Granted, the current restoration is only 10 years old or so, but the technology has finally come 'round to do it right: scan the camera neg in 8K for a preservation master, then restore and remaster in 4K and downsample for blu-ray.

And perhaps even, they might recover the last remaining lost bits of the film, which IIRC are rumored to be in a Moscow archive.

[htshell]

Who distributes the 70mm print theatrically?

[Charles]

I saw it at Lincoln Center yesterday, and agree with hearthesilence, above, that the dubbed version works beautifully. You still get a sprinkling of various languages being spoken, and the genius of Tati is you don't have to know a word of them to get the humor and absurdity of each situation. And in this, of all movies, why distract unnecessarily from the incredible visual feast by having to slog through subtitles? And that's coming from someone who normally loves subtitled films, no question about it. But I loved this, just the way it was.

Also just checked the Criterion Blu-ray to see if its "international" soundtrack is the same as that one, and of course that seems to be the case. (How likely is it that there could be two such alternate versions?)

However, in switching back and forth between the two Criterion tracks, I was stunned to hear the music -- the main title music and several of the other cues -- all playing approximately ONE HALF STEP HIGHER on the international version than it does on the French. How can this be? We're just switching audio tracks, so the timing of the film certainly doesn't change -- like it would between a PAL and NTSC DVD, for instance -- so, WTF? I'd like to know more about what's involved here.

I've also been wondering why the main title sequence is in more of a 1.66:1 aspect ratio while the film proper is 1.85:1. This was the case on yesterday's film print as well as on the Criterion.

It's possible that the answers to these two questions are to be found somewhere in this 12-page thread. I've skimmed through it but will go back and read through it more thoroughly when I have some time.

Contrary to those who have seen the 70mm and are reluctant to go back to it at home until a more faithful transfer comes around, I found in looking at it this morning that I appreciated all the more what we have. Of course I hope a top-notch scan will be made off the 70mm someday, but I find my glass half full here, and am glad of it. I also just ordered the BFI to enjoy whatever differences there are to discern.

[swo17]

However, in switching back and forth between the two Criterion tracks, I was stunned to hear the music -- the main title music and several of the other cues -- all playing approximately ONE HALF STEP HIGHER on the international version than it does on the French. How can this be? We're just switching audio tracks, so the timing of the film certainly doesn't change -- like it would between a PAL and NTSC DVD, for instance -- so, WTF? I'd like to know more about what's involved here.

I don't know what's going on in this particular case, but it's certainly possible to adjust pitch without adjusting tempo, or to adjust tempo without adjusting pitch.

[cdnchris]

According to Criterion's site the DVD and Blu-ray are now OOP.

[mfunk9786]

Wow, didn't take long for this to disappear off the face of the earth. Only a small handful for sale on Amazon, and literally none on eBay (even at inflated prices - there are just none listed period.)

[willoneill]

Playtime's over =;

[mfunk9786]

Not sure why I'm looking - I'm not selling my copy (unlike a few Criterions that've gone OOP in the last few years, this one's precious), but still - I guess I didn't realize how popular it is.

[willoneill]

If anyone is desperate, there's 4 left on Amazon.ca/Amazon.ca Marketplace, at increasingly stupid prices.

[swo17]

Not sure why I'm looking - I'm not selling my copy (unlike a few Criterions that've gone OOP in the last few years, this one's precious), but still - I guess I didn't realize how popular it is.

I think this is a case where it didn't technically go OOP until the latest pressing had practically run out. In most cases, Criterion would just order another pressing when existing stock got that low, but here, they aren't bothering to do that since they have another release in the works.

[mfunk9786]

Another release in the works?

[swo17]

Supposedly.

[mfunk9786]

Hm. That could be a long way out.

[zedz]

Also, to be completely cynical about it, nothing's going to stoke demand for a reissue of a reissue of a reissue (which any new edition would be - a Criterion first?) more than a healthy period fetching silly prices in OOP hell.

[Drucker]

The current $80 price is still cheaper than this, at least
.

[Gregory]

The current $80 price is still cheaper than this, at least.

Not surprisingly, that film has a higher average rating than Tati's Playtime, the former eliciting comments like "My wife said she could do waht they did in the film, while we were making love... WOW!!" while the latter garners reviews like "NO PLOT whatsoever, no characters and no story. It is just 2 hours of random people crossing the screen, never to be seen again. What is possibly interesting about that?" and "if you have 25 or more dollars to spend on something, buy something more useful and more importantly something that you might use or, as in this case, watch more than once. Good day"
But—
I SAID GOOD DAY