Jacques Tati portrays Monsieur Hulot in his satirical masterpiece from 1967, "PlayTime," showing at the Metropolis in Beirut. ( Credit: Specta Films)
More than half a century after they were made, Jacques Tati’s films can sometimes seem as though they were made for our times. For this retrospective, Metropolis is bringing together five of the French director's feature films: "Jour de fête" (Aug. 10), "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (Aug. 11), "PlayTime" (Aug. 17), "Mon Oncle" (Aug. 18) and "Trafic" (Aug. 25), all at 8 p.m. Together, they trace a body of work whose reflections on modernity remain strikingly relevant. Behind the silent gags and visual humor lies a surprisingly perceptive exploration of technology, urban uniformity, the accelerating pace of life and the changing nature of human relationships. Without ever becoming didactic, Tati observed a world in transition with a vision that that still resonates today.“We wanted...
More than half a century after they were made, Jacques Tati’s films can sometimes seem as though they were made for our times. For this retrospective, Metropolis is bringing together five of the French director's feature films: "Jour de fête" (Aug. 10), "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (Aug. 11), "PlayTime" (Aug. 17), "Mon Oncle" (Aug. 18) and "Trafic" (Aug. 25), all at 8 p.m. Together, they trace a body of work whose reflections on modernity remain strikingly relevant. Behind the silent gags and visual humor lies a surprisingly perceptive exploration of technology, urban uniformity, the accelerating pace of life and the changing nature of human relationships. Without ever becoming didactic, Tati observed a world in transition with a vision that that still resonates today.“We...
