Trafic-Criterion Collection

Posted by Canfield at 1:39pm.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews .

If you’ve never heard of M. Hulot I envy you. First go out and buy Criterions 2 Disc version of Playtime. Then invite several friends over and start the screening early so you’ll have plenty of time to talk about how much you all enjoyed it. Then go out and get Trafic, M. Hulots Holiday and Mon Uncle and wish that director Jacques Tati had made more movies starring his eternally befuddled middle-class protagonist M. Hulot. This is comedy on a grand scale. Imagine a thinking mans Chaplin in the modern world and a quieter sense of slapstick and you begin to get the charming often hilarious quality that is the legacy of M. Hulot.

Each of the M. Hulot films puts the character in a modern but completely familiar set of situations where he is completely in over his head. In Playtime these all have to do with the city and all its modern advances in architecture, advertising and night life. In Trafic it’s the world of the car and, among other things automotive, our increasing attempts to treat them as if thy were a second home. No one ever looked more at home walking down the street and I can barely imagine anyone less picturesque behind the wheel of an automobile. Tatis sly suggestion that our machinery (or our supposed dependence on it) is something to at least maintain a sense of humor about is of course even more a message of today than when he first made his film.

This is a two-disc set bursting with exactly the sorts of extras one expects from Criterion. High def digital transfer comes as a welcome addition since sound is such an important factor in the films of Tati but a two-hour documentary?! Titled In the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot this is certainly the most comprehensive overview and dissection of the beloved character available. Vintage interviews with the Trafic cast, an entire episode of Morceaux de bravoure and a new essay by Jonathan Romney round out an impressive set.

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Reader Comments

Agent Orange 09/04/2008 @ 6:17pm

Agreed. I’m a huge Tati fan and love Criterion for releasing such awesome sets of his films (and particularly for re-releasing the oop Playtime) . I’d not put Traffic in my top picks but it’s up there. Playtime and Mon Oncle are untouchable.
Zombiwolf 09/05/2008 @ 3:18pm

Agree with every word of that. M Hulot’s Holiday is a gem. Also has anyone seen the Criterion dvd of Salo(120 Days of Sodom) yet? I hear it’s about as far from Tati as you can get but I’m very interested in it.
Kemek 09/06/2008 @ 3:21am

As amazing as Tati is on DVD, he really deserves to be seen on the big screen. I caught “Playtime” in a 70mm print at the Castro in San Francisco a few years ago and was blown away. He uses the size of the screen to create site gags, which are often missed on a TV screen—even a big screen TV. As with “2001,” it’s an overwhelming experience that leaves you humbled.