tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post7712857280005768039..comments2024-03-18T19:46:10.130+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Reflections on Tati’s Play Time, and what a movie camera lets us seeJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-77741419421092374052009-10-25T09:17:34.315+05:302009-10-25T09:17:34.315+05:30What liberties taken in cinema can amount to cheat...<i>What liberties taken in cinema can amount to cheating the medium?<br />How far do cinema and theater diverge as a medium?<br />...Should there be an aesthetic elitism about some core permissible techniques?</i><br /><br />Rahul: I don't think there are cut-and-dried answers to any of these questions. If you were to suggest "core permissible techniques" to a director like Godard (to take just one very obvious, high-profile name), he'd probably guffaw. And why should we summarily denounce a technique like a voiceover without looking at how it's used in a particular scene? It's possible, for instance, that a voiceover is brilliantly complemented by (or contradicted by) camera movement so that the two things, taken together, enrich the scene.<br /><br />Shruti: saw it a long time ago, found it a little tedious at the time. Will try to see it again.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-32755665241385424102009-10-25T09:09:47.841+05:302009-10-25T09:09:47.841+05:30Parul: thanks for the thoughts. When you say "...Parul: thanks for the thoughts. When you say "...created a different kind of havoc in its attempt to mechanize and simplify the world. We no longer know what to do", it reminds me of another favourite shot: the one where the manager of the "noiseless door slamming" company gets angry at Hulot (who he thought had been snooping around his files), storms into his cubicle and slams the door really hard and dramatically - but of course we hear no sound, and Hulot, who hadn't been looking in the guy's direction for a few seconds, looks up and has no idea where he's disappeared. Superb little moment, with so much to say, yet it lasts barely 3-4 seconds.<br /><br />I actually hadn't read the Wikipedia entry properly, but with ref. to what you've highlighted (people moving in straight lines) I do recall an old Tati interview where he said, somewhat cryptically, that his film is about "straight lanes turning into curved lines". Watching it again, I imagine he was talking about the breaking down of order in the restaurant scene. Lovely shot of the cars moving in roundabout formation at the very end.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-42051025050735391172009-10-24T23:18:43.799+05:302009-10-24T23:18:43.799+05:30Jai,
A delight to read this entry as well as the ...Jai,<br /><br />A delight to read this entry as well as the comments, as always.<br /><br />Some thoughts: <br /><br />Playtime remains one of my favorite watching experiences because it was hilarious, more hilarious than any Chaplin work. My favorite scene was when a cleaner develops "horns" and another when Hulot keeps walking, endlessly, along the hallway. I liked your reading of it, "as if the warmth of human nature has been allowed to break through a cold, sterile world. " I hadn't thought of it that way, as a subtle victory of the human spirit over the coldness!<br />I am pretty sure you checked out the write-up at wikipedia. I think you say it right here: 'a number of people, including many tourists, wander about a large airport, an office complex and a trade exhibition in a Paris that's all pristine glass-and-concrete buildings; as if intimidated by the architecture, they walk in straight lines and turn at right angles. "<br /><br />I think that's totally right: There is this fear of postwar architecture and the idea that it can be so deadening-- in all senses of the word.<br /><br />I don't think there are any tips to give (Haha! As if I am an authority on this cinema), except what you've mentioned in the blog: view it many times. That's just the point. Overall, I don't think the film lends itself to a neat interpretation, but if it must be read, I think it could be perceived as a critique of the postwar commercialization, industrialization and, of course, corporatization. The sterile, corporate world, with its "in-the-box", linear thinking has created a different kind of havoc in its attempt to mechanize and simplify the world. We no longer know what to do (recall the way Hulot is lost in the corporate work-place maze of cubicles), and even inside the market place, we no longer know how to find anything, let alone ourselves. Everything is in a box and linear, straight-lined and identical, including where we live and how we live. And the old Paris-- I thought it was brilliant in the way it was shown as just reflection-- is something that's beyond our comprehension now; we can only "reflect" on it, not live it, not feel it, not experience it directly. Wiki says this about the picture you mentioned "The apartments: Cubicles for living, standardized behavior on view. (Detail of a screenshot) "<br /><br />The film that comes to mind is Wavelength. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength_%281967_film%29<br />The role of the camera & the viewer is interesting there as well. No plot, just a murder. The camera doesn't move, it (only)zooooooooms. :)párulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-35833138596866638852009-10-22T15:25:23.213+05:302009-10-22T15:25:23.213+05:30for no particular reason, I think you'll like ...for no particular reason, I think you'll like 'last year in marienbad' very much.shruti ravihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05309434429445481410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-62664755281867487102009-10-22T08:52:15.578+05:302009-10-22T08:52:15.578+05:30Rahul: Voiceovers can often accentuate the impact ...Rahul: Voiceovers can often accentuate the impact of the imagery on the screen. Consider the famous newsreel at the beginning of <i>Citizen Kane</i> which annihilates disbelief like nothing else. Or a similarly moving narration in Walsh's <i>Roaring Twenties</i>. Or even the flashback narration of Anne Baxter in <i>I Confess</i>. In these movies, the narration enhances the power of the visual medium rather than detracting from it.<br /><br />However, in certain films, the voiceovers completely overwhelm the visuals to the extent that the movie becomes a sort of a book reading session. I think this holds true for some of Woody Allen's films. <i>Vicky Cristina Barcelona</i> for instance. I think that amounts to a "betrayal to the spirit of cinema" as you put it.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-85936539446195355502009-10-21T21:12:01.421+05:302009-10-21T21:12:01.421+05:30Permit me to go off on a tangent which is almost u...Permit me to go off on a tangent which is almost unrelated to your post- What liberties taken in cinema can amount to cheating the medium?<br />How far do cinema and theater diverge as a medium?<br />Is everything technically possible in a medium should be welcomed in the mainstream of a medium or should there be an aesthetic elitism about some core permissible techniques?<br /><br />IMO a voice over amounts to cheating the medium It blurs the line between literature and cinema.But then almost every film noir has it.<br />OTOH the potential of cinema as a visual medium is largely untapped.If a movie is completely theatrical, is that a betrayal to the spirit of cinema?Rahulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08600228969911790479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-90806492209839724352009-10-21T14:49:52.752+05:302009-10-21T14:49:52.752+05:30Definitely not for this one! It deserves decently ...Definitely not for this one! It deserves decently big screen, good speakers...<br /><br />Interesting that Jonathan mentioned Reygadas...he shares a penchant for long unhurried takes with the Tati of 'Play Time', but does very different things with them. 'Play time' rarely has a break in its action; 'Silent Light', which i saw recently, has takes that are so long, life seems to hang in suspension.a fan aparthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04243109684980740841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-65688582241938835602009-10-21T14:01:30.854+05:302009-10-21T14:01:30.854+05:30Shamya: I sense malice in your comment. This is ju...Shamya: I sense malice in your comment. This is just another attempt to slander the late Mr Dutt, whose genius continues not to be properly appreciated in certain philistine circles. As any sensitive film critic will tell you, that hand was a deliberate component in the mise-en-scène - it represents the Hand of Fate, rocking all our lives along. Thematically it is very important, nay essential, to Mr Dutt's oeuvre in general. Similar Hands can be seen on the lower-left side of the screen in parts of <i>Mr and Mrs 55</i>, adjusting Ms Madhubala's gowns.<br /><br />Also remember that when these films came out most movie-audiences had to sit in uncomfortable, hard-backed chairs, not the snug La-Z-Boys that you find in every multiplex today. A rocking chair provided the illusion of comfort. Mr Dutt was a man decades ahead of his time.<br /><br />A Fan Apart: there's another film I need to look out for. Have read about it but haven't been able to get a copy (and no, don't direct me to YouTube!).Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-45748772089758122842009-10-21T12:29:54.997+05:302009-10-21T12:29:54.997+05:30I thought 'Play time' made an interesting ...I thought 'Play time' made an interesting contrast with Vertov's 'Man with a movie camera'. The first is amazingly democratic in its approach - no one is telling you what to watch, the eye is free to pick out its own favourite region. Vertov is at the other end of the spectrum - we are controlled so strongly by his rythmic cutting and splicing that we have no options in terms of what we can see or think - it has to be what the director wants us to concentrate on.a fan aparthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04243109684980740841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-39332753777261011042009-10-21T12:10:48.197+05:302009-10-21T12:10:48.197+05:30Somewhat unconnected - when you watch Pyaasa (or w...Somewhat unconnected - when you watch Pyaasa (or was it Kaagaz Ke Phool), there's a super shot of a hand slipping out from under a curtain and pushing a rocking chair to make it rock. It's a close-up. Certainly not what the camera wanted you to see! I'm sure there are many more such editing boo-boos I can't think of off-hand.Black Muddy Riverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955846722038215253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-75669346236353391032009-10-21T09:35:02.720+05:302009-10-21T09:35:02.720+05:30Jai: Yes. The phone call scene in Butch's parl...Jai: Yes. The phone call scene in Butch's parlour is quite memorable. So is the post-war reunion scene of March and Loy early on in the film.<br /><br />By the way, Scorsese's documentary on American Movie History is available on youtube now! Would love to see you review it.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-59669945589708489852009-10-21T07:46:44.372+05:302009-10-21T07:46:44.372+05:30Nimit: it's a combination of different reasons...Nimit: it's a combination of different reasons, including the ones you've mentioned. To start with, my career in journalism never followed a neat trajectory. I was always very unfocused: first worked on a copy-desk, then started writing features and a column about cricket, then joined Business Standard and did crappy corporate feature stories before the paper's Weekend section underwent a change that allowed me to focus on books. At the time, I was completely out of touch with Hindi cinema (I watched exactly two full-length Hindi movies between 1993 and 2004!) and working on the movie beat wasn't a serious option. So it's all been quite haphazard, not really planned.<br /><br />I DO prefer writing about movies to writing about books (and also feel on firmer ground, knowledge-wise, when it comes to the history of the form), but you'd be surprised by how little I've seen of contemporary international cinema. There just isn't enough time to do all the watching/reading/writing one would like to.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-53445237708115805472009-10-21T07:31:21.239+05:302009-10-21T07:31:21.239+05:30Shekhar: thank you!
shrikanth: yes, Rear Window o...Shekhar: thank you!<br /><br />shrikanth: yes, <i>Rear Window</i> occurred to me as well, though there aren't more than 2 or 3 shots in that film where you can see lots of different things happening simultaneously in the windows across the courtyard. Btw, there's a scene in <i>Play Time</i> that strongly resembles some of those <i>Rear Window</i> shots: a view from outside a building of four separate living rooms (big glass windows, no curtains), with different sets of people watching TV inside, and the set design making it look like they are watching each other (since we can't see the walls partitioning the flats on the inside). Nice sight gag.<br /><br />I don't remember <i>The Best Years of our Lives</i> all that well now, but I remember a shot where Fredric March and Harold Russell (playing on the piano?) are in the foreground and we can see Dana Andrews making an important phone call from a booth in the background.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-59009129846081053482009-10-21T02:06:23.189+05:302009-10-21T02:06:23.189+05:30This blog is my film school. The cheapest at least...This blog is my film school. The cheapest at least.<br /><br />Jai,<br /><br />Please tell me why you choose to be on the literary beat considering you write more and (dare I say?) better (i.e. more passionately) about movies than about literature.<br /><br />Is it because having a film beat would mean shifting base to Mumbai; or that most of the films that you care about are foreign and their makers dead; or both of the above?Nimit Kathuriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04273752834403114009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-39287014998457123782009-10-21T00:11:53.029+05:302009-10-21T00:11:53.029+05:30Great Post!
I've watched only Mr.Hulot's ...Great Post! <br />I've watched only Mr.Hulot's Holiday among Tati's films. By the way, your description of Playtime, especially the bit about several things happening in the same frame reminded me of the famous <i>Rear Window</i> set.<br /><br />Great point about <i>Rope</i> managing to be "cinematic" without relying on montage or short cuts. An interesting exception to Hitchcock's signature style.<br /><br />Regarding De Palma's comment - a lot of "talky" pictures are cinematic in less obvious ways. I guess this applies to a great many Howard Hawks/William Wyler films.<br /><br />I was rewatching <i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i> recently. Wyler uses deep focus to convey a great deal without resorting to close-ups, montage or tracking shots. Especially in the climactic marriage ceremony scene where two different story threads progress within the frame while the camera remains static. I'm not sure if the same effect could have been achieved on the stage.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-10490319729702237992009-10-20T21:28:37.911+05:302009-10-20T21:28:37.911+05:30Jai / Prakriti, You aren't going to believe th...Jai / Prakriti, You aren't going to believe this but I logged on to write almost the exact same comment that Prakriti has written !! After many months of putting in long hours at office and not visiting your blog did I come here today to find exactly the kind of post I love. Yours is a wonderful blog Jai and one which is perfect with which to end a long day.Shekharhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10389180819626234425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-39575056957821802642009-10-20T19:55:34.391+05:302009-10-20T19:55:34.391+05:30Prakriti: thanks - been a very long time since I&#...Prakriti: thanks - been a very long time since I've got a nice comment like that. Generally speaking, blog comments do seem to have died down in the wake of Twitter and Facebook - no one has much time for these rambling posts any more!<br /><br />On another note, I wish I had more time these days to watch movies and write about them. Don't manage as much as I'd like to.<br /><br />Jonathan: thanks for the recommendation, will look out for it. Another film I've been wanting to see for a long time is <i>Russian Ark</i>.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-77927587314453589222009-10-20T17:28:19.725+05:302009-10-20T17:28:19.725+05:30Stylistically, I think the Swedish director Roy An...Stylistically, I think the Swedish director Roy Andersson's 2007 masterpiece You, the Living shares much with Play Time. It's essentially 50 or so vignettes, shot with a static camera. It's a film with serious depth and detail, one that also demands multiple viewings.<br /><br />That de Palma quote reminded me of something Mexico's Carlos Reygadas, one of the kings of the long take, said, which is that much of cinema (past and present) is just illustrated literature, a fact he hates. And Adoor Gopalakrishnan, talking about adapting literature to film and the liberties he takes in doing so, said that what is written is meant to be read, but what he does is meant to be seen. <br /><br />I don't mind films that are basically just "people talking" but I think films that depend more on what characters say than how the story is visually told aren't using the art form to its best effect.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137609974123264208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-59093107424061961622009-10-20T16:28:52.956+05:302009-10-20T16:28:52.956+05:30Jai,
I haven't been on your blog in quite some...Jai,<br />I haven't been on your blog in quite some time (Infact,I haven't been on any blog for quite some time, including mine - twitter's to blame), but trust me,I feel the loss entirely as my own. As I have said hundreds of times before, it is an absolute pleasure to read your writing and everytime you write of a film I have seen, or have almost put off to see, it absolutely makes me want to go back and see it again, if only to see the things you saw and wrote lucidly about.<br /><br />Keep writing. God bless your blog.Dr. Gonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05593056958061152496noreply@blogger.com