1-World Festival of Foreign Films
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"Traffic"
1971
Directed by Jacques Tati

Jacques Tati's fifth and final feature, a laugh-filled look at modern society and the automobile, captures the absurdities of human behavior on the street and behind the wheel. Tati's wonderful comic creation Mr. hulot returns to the screen as an absentminded inventor trying to transport his ultramodern camper to Amsterdam for an auto show. The route along the frenzied superhighway is paved with a billiant string of pantomime feats and sound gags, including one of the most balletic car crashes ever recorded. Tati's gift for visual comedy puts him in the company of masters Keaton and Chaplin, but Hulot, his bumbling, pipe-smoking alter ego, remains a beloved original.  "A great and very beautiful movie. Even funnier the second time around." (Roger Greenspun, The New York Times).   "One of the years best. Splendidly funny! Exuberantly entertaining." (Vincent Canby, The New York Times). Letterboxed. English language version. Color.  89 minutes.