A brief recommendation. This weekend, I saw Jacques Tati's Play Time for the first time. (Alas, not on the big screen in 70mm, but the Criterion DVD.) Despite being a two-hour movie without a traditional plot and with Altmanesque dialog mixed into the background noise, I was continually entertained by its endless inventiveness, stark cinematography, carefully choreographed structure, and its humor, both slapstick and subtle. Not having seen any Tati before, my reference points for the film would be Michel Gondry and Terry Gilliam mixed with The Sims. The whole film is like a socially critical Rube Goldberg device designed to beautifully break down.

It also reminded me of the existence of 70mm film in general, which I haven't thought of in awhile due to my living in 70mm-free Nevada and to its replacement in mainstream theaters by IMAX. Let alone that no major film has been shot fully in 70mm since 1996 (Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, and it was actually 65mm). But I remember fondly seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lawrence of Arabia -- in Hartford and Boston, respectively -- in all of their 70mm glory. I hope I get the chance to catch Play Time projected in 70mm, as its wide shots filled with multitudes of people demand detailed viewing.