Film Details

Tonight the Cinematheque welcomes the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland to University Circle—and congratulates them on the opening of their shiny new building at the northeast corner of Euclid and Mayfield—with a special showing of Jacques Tati’s epic comedy Playtime, a masterpiece of spatial cinema. In the film, Tati’s quaint and klutzy alter ego Monsieur Hulot finds himself trapped in a maze of modernist glass-and-steel buildings on the outskirts of Paris. Though it skewers the soullessness of 1960s architecture and technology, the movie is also joyous and celebratory, climaxing in a long, hilarious set piece centered on the grand opening of a swanky new nightspot where conviviality and humanity triumph over pretentiousness and imposed order. Originally shot in 70mm, and costing (and losing) millions, Playtime is one of the grandest visions ever committed to celluloid. According to critic Gilbert Adair, it must be viewed "several times, each from a different seat in the auditorium" in order to catch all the sight gags in every corner of the widescreen frame.

MOCA members $7. All attendees will receive a coupon for half-price admission to the new MOCA. Visit www.mocacleveland.org