monorail film club is one-year old!

Monorail Film Club: PLAYTIME (U)

Sunday 18th May at 3.40pm

Director Jacques Tati

Cast: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden

France 1967, 2h 4m (French, German and English with subtitles)

Playtime is a Tati masterpiece. Three years in production and dazzling looking, it shows off a futuristic Paris which some of its inhabitants, notably Monsieur Hulot (played by Tati), are struggling to come to terms with. Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, lost in the maze of modern architecture filled with the latest gadgets.

The film will be preceded by a short (12m) KH-4, a strange film about a Glasgow artist (played by a young Bill Forsyth) who uses the city as a source of inspiration.

The screening will be presented by Glasgow artist, Toby Paterson.

Baskery are three sisters. A Swedish trio that combine a punk-rock skiffle aesthetic with an “O Brother” sensibility to deliver an admirable debut album, “Fall Among Thieves” (Veranda). The cover might look a bit Stevie Nicks but don’t be fooled, nae disrespect to Ms Nicks intended.

Somebody should snap them up for Celtic Connections next January. A little bit country and a whole lot of understated rock’n’roll, recorded live. “Nothing hidden, nothing added”. If the Dixie Chicks were Babes in Toyland but actually much cooler than either then they’d be Baskery. I have no idea what the name means, maybe an alternative to calling themselves, The Bondessons. Which I think would be a pretty cool name but that's my svenskophile side talking.

Hear them at their myspace, “One Horse Down” might be a groovy place to start. If the just a smidge over 2 minute “Why Don’t Ya” is on there, give that one a birl too. “Haunt You” has a cool acoustic G-L-O-R-I-A vibe and I bet it’s plenty loud in person. Quite possibly their set closer.

If it is, then the crowd is going to be baying for more. Wonder how their Irish shows have been going these last few days?