Customer Reviews

Traffic [VHS]

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3 star:		(1)
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Traffic was the movie which first got me into Tati's work. The story centres around getting a prototype car from France to a motor show in Rotterdam and as you may imagine things do not go smoothly. While Traffic lacks the endearment of Mon Oncle or M Hulot's Holiday it retains Tati's eye for understated visual humour. One of the great things about these works is that you can have seen them 20 or 30 times and still pick up on jokes that you missed before. The humour is not overt and can at times be subtle almost to the point of obscurity, however it repays repeated viewing with a some beautifully wry observations on the absurdities of everyday existence. Not a movie for belly laughs but real feel good humour.

For Jacques Tati, the car is the perfect emblem of the dehumanising effects of modern industrial life. Supposedly a symbol of freedom - of movement, of consumer choice - it actually signifies confinement and uniformity. Our dependence on it dehumanises us; therefore, its capacity for unreliability, for breakdown, seems catastrophic, life-threatening. The proliferaton of cars in our society simply leads to a perpetual traffic jam, an inability to move - a terrifying, apocalyptic early shot reveals an endless parking lot, a virtual city of immobile machines; it also cuts us off from other people.

The problem with attempts to regiment life, to make it uniform and efficient, is that the raw material is intractable human nature, liable to put a spanner in the works through ineptitude, vanity, laziness, incomprehension, desire, officiousness, accident. Tati's simple story follows the Altra car company's attempt to transport a showpiece camping van (full of hilarious parody-Bond gadgetry, including built-in shower and barbecue) to an International Exhibition in Amsterdam. Prodded by an exasperated American public relations officer, M. Hulot and indolent driver Marcel are confounded all the way, by flat tyres, lack of gas, problems with customs, car crashes. As in Tati's very first feature, 'Jour de Fete', a progress leaving humanity behind is signalled by American aerodynamics, in this case the Apollo 11 moon-landings glimpsed on TV.

Tati conveys the industrial homogeneity that scares and angers him in many ways: by emphasising vast, cavernous industrial buildings, numbing in their inhumanity, dwarfing the people occupying them, especially in Tati's rigorous, no close-up shooting; by an austere, monotonous grey colour scheme (buildings, cars, roads, clothes etc.) - even the odd splashes of colour, red, yellow or navy, belong to organisations' uniforms and logos; by the choreography of human activity, whether it is the montage of basic instincts, such as nose-picking or yawning, or ballets of mindless movement, such as the shapes thrown by survivors of an auto-accident; or more didactic montages emphasising the sameness of machines, their reflections multiplying other machines, obliterating the humans operating them. Tati posits against this uniformity: comedy, failure, dream-like sequences - a recurringly eerie effect is the proximity to noisy, country-destroying motorways of quiet rural lanes and towns, where the industrial exists in a more delapidated and decaying, but more eccentric and human form.

'Trafic' won't go down in history as the funniest film Tati made, especially compared with its predecessor, 'Playtime', one of cinema's true masterpieces, whose comic crescendo of collapse it seeks but never attains. The more obvious gags often fall flat or resort to coarseness; the satire is frequently heavy-handed. Even the music, so integral to Tati's art, sometimes sounds like it escaped from a Robin Askwith sex comedy.

Nevertheless, 'Trafic' is pure delight from start to finish, largely because of Tati's long-shot, set-piece style, which allows for an unhurried accumulation of comic detail, a revelation of character through action rather than psychology, and some of the most extraordinary visual visual designs in film - in other words, it offers the viewer a freedom to breathe not vouchsafed the characters. There is a particularly, nastily funny sequence involving a hippy practical joke and Hulot being cruel to a fur jacket.

I first saw "Traffic" years ago in a theater and enjoyed it greatly. Then, it vanished and was unavailable for a long time. When it emerged on VHS I bought it eagerly. My first viewing of the tape was something of a let-down. However, the second time I looked at it I began to understand it again and subsequently have continued to find it a delight -just as I did originally. His gentle observations of the Dutch are quite perceptive. This is not "Mon Oncle," of course, but to one who was around when the movie was made (about 1970) it does remind me of an atmosphere of openness and tolerance which lamentably is now gone.

I just hope this'll be out on DVD sometime soon. Some think this film is a bit too slow, or not as wonderful and inspired as the earlier films. That's kind of like saying Beethoven's 7th is not quite as good as his 5th or the Mona Lisa just doesn't have the same visual punch as the Last Supper. Jeepers, this is Tati we're talking about--a comedic genius who made uncompromising and meticulously crafted films, a guy who raised comedy to a height that no one since has dared or been able to match.

All that Tati requires of you is that you pay attention--not easy for many in this age. A lot of what happens on the screen is subtle and often complex. In a way it's like dealing with Shakespeare. I really don't recommend his films for those who like more overt and less cerebral comedy. Strangely, Tati films might work for some kids, the sort that get completely absorbed in a movie. Give it a try sometime and see what happens.

If you have made it this far, you will want to own this DVD. While not one of Tati's best, it is still an entertaining and charming movie. The extras alone are worth the DVD price: interviews with the cast and a fascinating interview with Tati himself, who reprises some of his best mime routines. Regarding the movie itself: I was stunned at not only the quality of the picture (sharp with bright colors), but the fact my VHS tape was missing about 15% of the frame on all four sides, not to mention having a horizontally stretched picture. So, aside from the much-improved picture quality, there is actually 15% more movie to see! Buy this DVD (and the others from Criterion, if you don't have them), and show Criterion that their efforts with regard to Tati are appreciated.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film

Trafic is a film directed by Jacques Tati and continues the adventures of Mr. Hulot. This is the fourth and final film in the series. The other three were released in succession by the Criterion Collection several years ago and this final movie is long awaited by fans.

The film is about a concept car being taken from the factory in Paris to an auto show in Amsterdam. He is delayed in customs and goes through a series of other misadventures.

The film has various sight gags which are also very funny. I think this is the best film in the series and has some of the funniest material.

The special features are also impressive.
Disc one contains the film with a theatrical trailer, a 1971 interview with cast members, and a 1973 episode about Tati, from a French television show.

Disc two contains a 1989 documentary of the four films in the series.

This is a great release and be sure to get the other three films.

What can we make of Trafic, Jacques Tati's last film? It certainly isn't a major success, as M. Hulot's Holiday - Criterion Collection and Mon Oncle - Criterion Collection are. It's not a gallant failure, as I believe Playtime - Criterion Collection is. It seems to me that it is a sad, sometimes amusing combination of those things that made Tati so unique, so funny, so problematic and so drawn to making mundane social commentary. There must be something in the water we drink or the bread we eat that causes some humans with extraordinary artistic gifts to believe that because they are great artists they also must have equally great gifts of social philosophy, gifts which they are determined to share with us.

By the time Tati made Trafic, four years after Playtime, he had lost ownership of his life's work, his films, and most of his money. Playtime was a debacle. He spent a fortune, his own as well as others, to craft a perfectionist's dream of artistic control. He ended up with a movie that was filled with surprises, layer on layer of -- for wont of a better term -- sight and sound gags, with fascinatingly complex amusements for an audience willing to let the situations develop around them, and seemingly endless, obvious and often impersonal visual commentary on the homogenizing of modern society and the perils of technology. Most moviegoers were not all that interested.

Now, with Trafic, Mr. Hulot has come back. He is a designer for a Paris auto company, and he has developed a camping vehicle like no other. Trafic is the story of Mr. Hulot's delivery of his camper from Paris to an international auto show in Amsterdam. It's a long journey filled with misunderstandings, accidents and crashes, a PR executive with an endless number of dress changes, cops, windshield wipers and a lot of cars. The movie is as exquisitely built as an expensive vest pocket timepiece. Unfortunately, time has a way of catching us up, and Mr. Hulot now is a man past middle age, where male innocence seems unlikely and somewhat unattractive. Tati was 64 now, and he looks it. The gentle, innocent mime who meets unexpected personal situations at a small seaside hotel or tries to help his young nephew has been replaced by a well-meaning older gentleman we more often observe than we root for. His encounters with the clichés of faceless technology and bumbling bureaucracy are increasingly with people with few understandable, sympathetic foibles. Mr. Hulot to be at his best needs people we can come to like and interact with, not simply interchangeable stand-ins...even if they're picking their noses in the privacy of their cars (in a sight gag probably only Tati could have pulled off).

Mr. Hulot only appeared in four feature-length movies. It is Tati's genius that in less than 500 minutes he gave us such a memorable and appealing human being. Tati's layering of sight gags is unique and often intensely and unexpectedly funny. With Trafic, however, I found my interest more intellectual than anything else. There were stretches of the film that simply weren't all that engaging. And this, of course, is all just opinion.

Jacques Tati's movies are classics to be treasured. The Criterion two-disc release has a fine DVD color transfer and an assortment of interesting extras that include a major documentary on the Hulot character. There is a substantial essay on Trafic in an enclosed booklet. The author, Jonathan Romney, writes that Trafic has a melancholy quality. He's right.

At last! This little gem gets the release it deserves, from Criterion no less. Regarded by many and perhaps rightly so as the weakest of the Jacques Tati 'Hulot' films. Don't let this put you off as, even though its the weakest, its still the work of genius. It's a surprise it even got made as it was fraught with finance problems, production being shut down due to lack of money was not rare. Unfortunately Tati did not receive the critical acclaim he was due until many years after his death. The rights of his films landed in the hands of strangers due to bankruptcy and then Tati died. Trafic has never seen a proper DVD release in the English language territories. I own a German edition that sports a good picture and little else. Criterion I'm sure will deliver the goods!

Jacques Tati developed some central commentary themes which pervaded all his later movies: the impact of technology on society, the changes evident in a developing French society, and at a macro level, people and their relationship styles.

The key point to bear in mind when watching one of the Mr Hulot epics is that Jacques Tati develops such themes gradually; humorous personal interractions, slapstick, as well as plot development, occur very gently. One must be relaxed and patient to appreciate his style. It certainly is not frenetic in-yer-face humour.

Trafic wraps these themes around a voyage by an obscure campervan manufacturer to the Amsterdam Motor Show to mount an exhibit. Mr Hulot is his usual obliging if bumbling self, supported by a colourful cast array who provide great character interest.

If not as cohesive as other Mr Hulot films, Trafic represents a significant stage in the development of the series. I would have liked to have seen more play with car technology perhaps, although there are some hilarious segments devoted to it. The study of people and their interractions seems to be more central in this film, and Tati is always apt in this respect.

The original film print has evidently been considerably enhanced; my DVD offered good image and sound, allowing me to concentrate on the message rather than the medium.

Sit back, relax, and be prepared to allow Jacques Tati to unfurl the movie in an orderly fashion; you will be rewarded.

The star of this picture isn't Jacques Tati the actor, it is Jacques Tati the director. Mr. Hulot here is nothing but -- excuse the unintended pun -- a vehicle, an excuse for Tati to be able to make one last film. Like a stray page from an abandoned newspaper that gets blown around by the wind, Hulot shifts aimlessly in and out of one scene after another, seemingly with no purpose for being there. Judged from that perspective, the movie is a massive failure. However, if you stop focusing on Hulot and instead sit back and observe what Tati does with the camera, you're in for a real treat. Viewed from a strictly visual perspective, "Trafic" is a masterwork. Yet, despite Hulot's aimlessness, there are still some great gags, carefully set up by Tati. Some are very brief and you might miss them if you blink (for instance, in one quick shot there's a seemingly bare-breasted woman; but a double-take reveals that she's actually carrying a baby; what looked like breasts are the baby's bottom). Some of the gags are more elaborate, such as a spectacular, carefully choreographed car wreck, and a sick joke that a gang of teens play on a woman with a pooch. Plot wise, the movie is a satire on the automobile. Mr. Hulot has designed a camper with all sorts of gadgets. His team has to get the camper to a car show, but one mishap after another ensues to prevent them from getting there on time. Clearly, Mr. Tati has a few problems with the way cars have dominated our lives.