It’s Playtime at the Cinematheque!

It’s impossible for me to believe that Jacques Tati finished Playtime in 1967…it’s still beyond relevant this very instant.

Perhaps it was named because of the process of making it (it was 10 years in the making and was outrageously expensive), but I believe this French comedic genius and master filmmaker was having fun with my favourite part of civilization: the rich.

The film starts slow partly because it was the first film in wide screen colour (70 mm) with stereophonic sound that Tati really highlights with visual gags: every time I see it I find a new one.

Monsieur Hulot is Tati’s classic character (played by Tati) that plays one of his last of many films here…and his physical humour really works to accent what I believe the focus of the film to be: a strong comment on the sterile world that the rich is forcing upon us.

One of my favourite scenes is so subtle I didn’t see it at first: the sterile travel agency’s posters highlighting a dozen or more exotic destinations are photos of concrete and glass buildings. Another is an American tourist exclaiming that “that” is the real Paris when she sees a florist booth in the middle of concrete and glass buildings and an endless stream of cars.

But the nightclub/restaurant portion in the middle is a scream that never seems to end. It’s a guess but it may well be that the end of Playtime is the beginning of his next feature, Traffic, also playing this weekend.

So if you’ve got an evening downtown this weekend, spend part of it at the Cinematheque and have fun while you are exposed to a very profound film…it’s Playtime!

Food? Health? Hope? … sound relevant to your life?

The World According to Monsanto is a compelling new film that plays at the Vancity Theatre August 1-4, 6-7 @ 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm.

This film shows conclusively how governments around the world have directly supported the biotech industry lead by Monsanto, often by former Monsanto employees and associates.  The research seems to have been done online (I hope Apple and Google have paid dearly for their regular product placements in the film); the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of the research reaches back many decades and brings us to the present dilemma: the genetic contamination of almost all food on the planet.

As Segudino, a Oaxacan farmer states, if Monsanto succeeds, everyone will be dependent on the multinationals.  Although many farmers in Oaxaca continue to farm as their ancestors did, the contamination of transgenic corn is seriously threatening the genetic stock of corn that can be traced back 500 or more years.

Just like PCBs, which were also created by Monsanto, transgenic species travel on the wind and the air to contaminate everywhere they travel, which is everywhere on the planet.

Another favourite segment shows Vice President George Bush, Sr. state: “we’re in the dereg business.”

The film is easy, almost fun, to watch, despite the condemning content.  If the exposure of deceit, smear, conspiracy, and fascism in this film doesn’t activate you, maybe you’re eating Roundup Ready (pop)corn.

If you care about the Food you eat, your and your family’s Health, and Hope for the planet’s future, check out the trailer, Monsanto’s website, and then get down to the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour St. @ Davie)…but don’t forget to ask about the popcorn!