112 - Playtime
 

The Criterion Collection 112
Playtime, a gigantic and somewhat indescribable near-silent comedy that spreads out across the wide screen like a gigantic magazine illustration. Originally filmed in 70mm, a format reserved for epic spectacles with broad audience appeal, Playtime instead creates a teasingly complex tale of humans existing in a whimsical environment of modern architecture. Tati built several football fields' worth of city streets and glass and steel buildings, one of the largest and most complicated sets ever conceived.
Criterion's new and improved transfer reflects the work of a 2002 70mm restoration project that returns five minutes of recovered material; a half-hour of the original movie is still unaccounted for. The extras for this new edition are a show-and-tell session explaining the sometimes-incredible particulars of the filming and Tati's subsequent career troubles.