One can often tell a cinephile by the rituals they establish. For my part, I begin every summer by revisiting Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953), the feature debut of his most beloved character. I can no longer remember what drew me to this habit outside of a strong association of the season with the smooth jazz theme to the film “Quel temps fait-il à Paris?”, written by Alain Romans. Revisiting the film last summer, I decided for the first time to put on the 1953 version of the movie instead of the 1978 version I usually watch, which is labeled “definitive” by Les Films de Mon Oncle, the foundation responsible for the restoration and rerelease of Tati’s films. Outside of one addition to this later cut, I was unaware of the differences between them, and couldn’t find much information about the original release. Almost immediately, I was shocked to...
- 8/30/2023
- MUBI
For the past 40 Cannes Film Festivals, Alexandre has been putting on a show.
As the head bartender at the Mondrian Cannes — the établissement formerly known as The Grand — he’s been mixing cocktails and charming post-premiere revelers since 1983. Alexandre — it’s always “Alexandre,” no last name, like Prince or Madonna — is, for festival regulars, as familiar and welcome a sight as Cannes’ iconic red carpet. With a tall, lean frame and sharp Gallic nose, he darts between tables like a more elegant version of Monsieur Hulot, instantly recognizable with his striking bald head and those playful eyes that spring open in delight and surprise at every new guest.
Over the years, Alexandre has served festival grandees and Hollywood royalty. Johnny Depp and Jim Jarmusch, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro. Isabella Rossellini.
He has his stories.
“Sitting right there: Tony Curtis. And there, Bo Derek,” Alexandre begins. “He goes over,...
As the head bartender at the Mondrian Cannes — the établissement formerly known as The Grand — he’s been mixing cocktails and charming post-premiere revelers since 1983. Alexandre — it’s always “Alexandre,” no last name, like Prince or Madonna — is, for festival regulars, as familiar and welcome a sight as Cannes’ iconic red carpet. With a tall, lean frame and sharp Gallic nose, he darts between tables like a more elegant version of Monsieur Hulot, instantly recognizable with his striking bald head and those playful eyes that spring open in delight and surprise at every new guest.
Over the years, Alexandre has served festival grandees and Hollywood royalty. Johnny Depp and Jim Jarmusch, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro. Isabella Rossellini.
He has his stories.
“Sitting right there: Tony Curtis. And there, Bo Derek,” Alexandre begins. “He goes over,...
- 5/20/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The first trailer for Wes Anderson_, the vibe was Truffaut, Godard and Monsieur Hulot; this time it’s kitschy ’50s Americana, complete with desert diners, nuclear tests and eye-popping ice cream pastel colours everywhere. Check out the trailer here:
Jason Schwartzman. As they get closer, it turns out that something else is getting closer too: an extra-terrestrial with news of the universe to impart. “What’s out there?” asks one character. “The meaning of life. Maybe there is one!”
And, in the most Andersonian touch, the cast is absolutely absurd. You’ve got your Anderson favourites who’ve been there or thereabouts for the last 25 years: Jason Schwartzmann, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Stephen Park and Jeff Goldblum. Then there are first-time live action Andersonites Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and Liev Schreiber, who voiced characters in the Anderson’s second stop-motion feature Isle Of Dogs.
Jason Schwartzman. As they get closer, it turns out that something else is getting closer too: an extra-terrestrial with news of the universe to impart. “What’s out there?” asks one character. “The meaning of life. Maybe there is one!”
And, in the most Andersonian touch, the cast is absolutely absurd. You’ve got your Anderson favourites who’ve been there or thereabouts for the last 25 years: Jason Schwartzmann, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Stephen Park and Jeff Goldblum. Then there are first-time live action Andersonites Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and Liev Schreiber, who voiced characters in the Anderson’s second stop-motion feature Isle Of Dogs.
- 3/29/2023
- by Tom Nicholson
- Empire - Movies
Ambitious production is based celebration on work by late UK poet Heathcote Williams.
Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has boarded sales on Jean-Albert Lievre’s upcoming documentary Whale Nation, exploring the barely known world of whales.
The project takes inspiration from UK poet and dramatist Heathcote Williams’s 1988 prose work, celebrating the society of whales, with their remarkable abilities of communication and rich and complex social lives.
“The filmmaker has used the text as the basis for a timely film about life in all its diversity, man’s place on the planet and the vital need for cooperation between the species that share our planet,...
Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has boarded sales on Jean-Albert Lievre’s upcoming documentary Whale Nation, exploring the barely known world of whales.
The project takes inspiration from UK poet and dramatist Heathcote Williams’s 1988 prose work, celebrating the society of whales, with their remarkable abilities of communication and rich and complex social lives.
“The filmmaker has used the text as the basis for a timely film about life in all its diversity, man’s place on the planet and the vital need for cooperation between the species that share our planet,...
- 1/15/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
In the second edition of Canon Of Film, we take a look a Jacques Tati‘s ‘Playtime’. For the genesis of Canon Of Film, you can click here.
“Playtime” (1967)
Director: Jacques Tati
Screenplay: Jacques Lagrange and Jacques Tati; with addition English dialogue by Art Buchwald
Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime‘ is clearly a masterpiece, but I think almost nobody can actually master it. According to film scholar Noel Berch, ‘Playtime‘, doesn’t have to just be seen multiple times, but has to be seen from several different points in the theater itself. The movie is all action. Not the way we normally think of action, but “action” in terms of filling up the screen. To watch one thing – usually in the foreground – means you’re missing many things happening in the background, and vice-versa.
The most expensive French film made at the time, the film’s box office failure would eventually bankrupt Tati.
“Playtime” (1967)
Director: Jacques Tati
Screenplay: Jacques Lagrange and Jacques Tati; with addition English dialogue by Art Buchwald
Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime‘ is clearly a masterpiece, but I think almost nobody can actually master it. According to film scholar Noel Berch, ‘Playtime‘, doesn’t have to just be seen multiple times, but has to be seen from several different points in the theater itself. The movie is all action. Not the way we normally think of action, but “action” in terms of filling up the screen. To watch one thing – usually in the foreground – means you’re missing many things happening in the background, and vice-versa.
The most expensive French film made at the time, the film’s box office failure would eventually bankrupt Tati.
- 9/12/2017
- by David Baruffi
- Age of the Nerd
After polling critics from around the world for the greatest American films of all-time, BBC has now forged ahead in the attempt to get a consensus on the best comedies of all-time. After polling 253 film critics, including 118 women and 135 men, from 52 countries and six continents a simple, the list of the 100 greatest is now here.
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
- 8/22/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
After the Storm (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Can our children pick and choose the personality traits they inherit, or are they doomed to obtain our lesser qualities? These are the hard questions being meditated on in After the Storm, a sobering, transcendent tale of a divorced man’s efforts to nudge back into his son’s life. Beautifully shot by regular cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki, it marks a welcome and quite brilliant...
After the Storm (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Can our children pick and choose the personality traits they inherit, or are they doomed to obtain our lesser qualities? These are the hard questions being meditated on in After the Storm, a sobering, transcendent tale of a divorced man’s efforts to nudge back into his son’s life. Beautifully shot by regular cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki, it marks a welcome and quite brilliant...
- 8/11/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This August will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Tuesday, August 1
Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train
Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Tuesday, August 1
Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train
Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.
- 7/24/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Each summer, a French comedy comes along that tries to to exploit its country’s sacrosanct vacation rituals, whether in the form of trailer park trash (the Camping series), nostalgia for the golden years (Nicholas on Holiday, Ducoboo 2: Crazy Vacation), camp chaos (Those Happy Days, from the makers of Intouchable), ripoffs of The Love Boat (La Croisiere) or good ol' fashioned sexism (One Wild Moment).
In the best case you get something like Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, but in most cases you get much of the above or else the latest specimen, Old Sitting (Sales gosses) — an awful...
In the best case you get something like Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, but in most cases you get much of the above or else the latest specimen, Old Sitting (Sales gosses) — an awful...
- 7/21/2017
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:
Mr. Freedom begins with a wail of sirens as Chicago cops swarm in to crack the skulls of rioters and looters. It ends with a catastrophic explosion that levels a city block in Paris and mutilates the body of the movie’s titular hero. In between all that, against a backdrop of Cold War intrigue and superpower paranoia run amok, we see scenes involving overt racist mockery, rape as a spectator sport, sacrilege, poisoning, prostitution, assassination, the sexist degradation of women and a pervasive attitude of unmitigated cynicism and ridicule toward the aspirations of the USA as a bulwark of liberty, democracy and decency against the forces of tyranny and oppression around the world. All the necessary ingredients for a robust satirical take-down of good old fashioned patriotism, American-style! The politics are radical, the humor is often guttural, and the...
Mr. Freedom begins with a wail of sirens as Chicago cops swarm in to crack the skulls of rioters and looters. It ends with a catastrophic explosion that levels a city block in Paris and mutilates the body of the movie’s titular hero. In between all that, against a backdrop of Cold War intrigue and superpower paranoia run amok, we see scenes involving overt racist mockery, rape as a spectator sport, sacrilege, poisoning, prostitution, assassination, the sexist degradation of women and a pervasive attitude of unmitigated cynicism and ridicule toward the aspirations of the USA as a bulwark of liberty, democracy and decency against the forces of tyranny and oppression around the world. All the necessary ingredients for a robust satirical take-down of good old fashioned patriotism, American-style! The politics are radical, the humor is often guttural, and the...
- 3/6/2017
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Editor’s note: This article is presented in partnership with the Holland Marketing Alliance and their award-winning “Holland. The Original Cool” travel series. You can watch their new short film, “The Tale of Kat & Dog: A Holland Cool Movie,” below.
Try as some filmmakers might, it’s impossible for a single movie to represent an entire country. With all the different perspectives and geographical locations that a nation has to offer, it’s difficult to pinpoint all of those diverse experiences in a neat package.
Luckily, the Netherlands has decades of history and cinematic depictions to dive into, from Dutch filmmakers and those telling their stories far from home. The short film that got us thinking about this? “The Tale of Kat & Dog: A Holland Cool Movie,” a 17-minute tour across Amsterdam with an adorable canine as a guide:
Now that you’ve seen a bit of the country through...
Try as some filmmakers might, it’s impossible for a single movie to represent an entire country. With all the different perspectives and geographical locations that a nation has to offer, it’s difficult to pinpoint all of those diverse experiences in a neat package.
Luckily, the Netherlands has decades of history and cinematic depictions to dive into, from Dutch filmmakers and those telling their stories far from home. The short film that got us thinking about this? “The Tale of Kat & Dog: A Holland Cool Movie,” a 17-minute tour across Amsterdam with an adorable canine as a guide:
Now that you’ve seen a bit of the country through...
- 11/2/2016
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
Pierre Étaix, the French clown, actor, and film director who won an Oscar for his 1962 short film Happy Anniversary and counted some of the world’s greatest filmmakers among his loyal fans, has died. Le Monde reports that the cause of death was an intestinal infection. Étaix was 87.
Born in 1928 in Roanne, Étaix initially studied to be a graphic designer, a background that he would often draw on for his act and subsequent film work. Influenced by the silent comedy of the stone-faced Buster Keaton and the dapper Max Linder, he established himself in the music halls of Paris in the early 1950s.
There, he caught the attention of actor-director Jacques Tati, who hired Étaix to come help him write gags for Mon Oncle (1958), his celebrated second outing as the clumsy, pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot. Étaix was closely involved in the years-long process of developing the film ...
Born in 1928 in Roanne, Étaix initially studied to be a graphic designer, a background that he would often draw on for his act and subsequent film work. Influenced by the silent comedy of the stone-faced Buster Keaton and the dapper Max Linder, he established himself in the music halls of Paris in the early 1950s.
There, he caught the attention of actor-director Jacques Tati, who hired Étaix to come help him write gags for Mon Oncle (1958), his celebrated second outing as the clumsy, pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot. Étaix was closely involved in the years-long process of developing the film ...
- 10/14/2016
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
Boy and the World is the animated Playtime that you never knew you wanted. Like Jacques Tati’s masterpiece, Boy and the World is a plea for the world to reclaim its humanism away from the clutches of technology. In the case of this film, that request goes to apocalyptic levels as technology swallows up everything from the music that reminds the main character of his home to the vegetation that serves as his playground.
Alê Abreu‘s film has its own singular pulse from its first moment as kaleidoscopic imagery transports the viewer to a pastel odyssey of vegetation animals and our own version of Monsieur Hulot, a tireless boy made up of five red lines, shorts, eyes, dimples and of course three hairs.
The plot is minimal. After his father — drawn in a manner resembling a Dia de los Muertos figure — leaves on a mysteriously humanoid train from...
Alê Abreu‘s film has its own singular pulse from its first moment as kaleidoscopic imagery transports the viewer to a pastel odyssey of vegetation animals and our own version of Monsieur Hulot, a tireless boy made up of five red lines, shorts, eyes, dimples and of course three hairs.
The plot is minimal. After his father — drawn in a manner resembling a Dia de los Muertos figure — leaves on a mysteriously humanoid train from...
- 12/11/2015
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
I came across a wonderful new poster the other day by Portuguese illustrator André Letria for Jacques Tati’s 1971 comedy Trafic, which reminded me of how Tati, above all filmmakers (with the possible exceptions of Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson) continually lends himself to different graphic renditions. Many of them can be seen regularly on the excellent and prolific blog The Hulot Universe, which seems to be tapped into an inexhaustible supply of Tatiana. I’ve written about Tati art twice before: in a post about Pierre Etaix, and last year I wrote about David Merveille’s impeccable designs for the Criterion Collection’s Jacques Tati Blu-ray set. But I’ve always wanted to feature the various international posters for Traffic and Letria’s new art, which you can see at the end of the post, gives me that excuse.The famous French poster, above, curiously unsigned for such a striking,...
- 10/16/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Qui aime les films français ?
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
- 3/4/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is still in pre-production mod with The Cross. - Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is...
- 5/11/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is still in pre-production mod with The Cross – if I remember correctly it was first announced at last year's Cannes and they are trying to bring down the price tag on the 50 million dollar-ish production. French items worth keeping an eye out for are Benoît Philippon's Lullaby for Pi – which was shot in Canada and would logically find a spot at Tiff. Mathieu Kassovitz also has a project in development . Buried by Rodrigo Cortes - Post-Production Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) by Pascal Chaumeil...
- 5/11/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Buoyed by a substantial first-place U.K. debut, Pixar/Disney's "Up" reclaimed the No. 1 spot on the foreign circuit over the weekend, generating $21 million overall from 3,500 locations in 25 markets and pushing its overseas gross total to $257.1 million.
School holidays in two foreign markets were kind to the weekend's No. 1 title in the U.S. and Canada. Universal's "Couples Retreat," starring Vince Vaughn, opened offshore in Australia and New Zealand for a combined tally of $3 million from 228 sites. The comedy's No. 1 Aussie ranking resulted from $2.8 million drawn from 188 locations for a solid per-screen average of $14,894.
Sony premiered "Zombieland" in the U.K. and Russia and garnered $4.6 million overall from 645 screens in six territories. The horror-comedy with Woody Harrelson, which finished No. 2 domestically, registered, as per Sony, $1.9 million from 309 U.K. locations.
Universal wound up its overseas run of action title "Fast & Furious," which opened internationally in early April, in the Japan...
School holidays in two foreign markets were kind to the weekend's No. 1 title in the U.S. and Canada. Universal's "Couples Retreat," starring Vince Vaughn, opened offshore in Australia and New Zealand for a combined tally of $3 million from 228 sites. The comedy's No. 1 Aussie ranking resulted from $2.8 million drawn from 188 locations for a solid per-screen average of $14,894.
Sony premiered "Zombieland" in the U.K. and Russia and garnered $4.6 million overall from 645 screens in six territories. The horror-comedy with Woody Harrelson, which finished No. 2 domestically, registered, as per Sony, $1.9 million from 309 U.K. locations.
Universal wound up its overseas run of action title "Fast & Furious," which opened internationally in early April, in the Japan...
- 10/11/2009
- by By Frank Segers
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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