Movies

Royal Garden’s Chaos: Tati’s ‘PlayTime’

By  · Published on September 26th, 2017

All work and no PlayTime makes for a much calmer day.

Jacques Tati‘s PlayTime is a 1967 wonder. Tati’s masterpiece isn’t just a sharp commentary and comic gem, it’s a feat in logistics.

The enormous set and the coordination of the chaos within complete the indefinable checklist of what makes a great movie. Particularly, this controlled madness is most noticeable in the comedy’s Royal Garden sequence, which essayist Andrew Saladino analyzes in a new video.

A financial failure but a critical darling, Tati’s most adventurous work is notable for many reasons outside its second-half set piece, but it’s a monument to Tati’s talent on its own.

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Jacob Oller writes everywhere (Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Playboy, FSR, Paste, etc.) about everything that matters (film, TV, video games, memes, life).