I'm unsure of what to make of this film. Some of it is quite funny and some of it is not. I know many people who swear by this film and its a winner of numerous awards and yet I'm left scratching my head.
The plot is simple, Jaques Tati's Mr Hulot tries to come to terms with a changing world as exemplified by his sisters family who lives in a modern home with all of the latest gadgets. In its way its what happens after Mr Hulot gets back from his vacation. (see Mr Hulot's Holiday)The film is a series of loosely connected bits as we see the family and what they go through and how the basically pastoral Hulot deals with all the modern push button conveniences.
Coming as I am late to seeing the films of Tati after having read about them for years I wasn't sure what to expect. It was only several months ago that I finally say Mr Hulot's Holiday and fell in love with it and its style. Based on that I picked up Mon Oncle. I finally sat down to watch it, after reading a Tati biography in the interim and was greatly disappointed.
I think part of the problem is that the film is very leisurely. It takes a while to set up a gag indeed several sequences seem to have no point only to have a pay off later in the film, if at all. Yes, they generate laughs but there aren't enough of them.
Worse there is a great deal of repetition in the film. Several times we watch as Hulot goes up to and down from his roof top apartment, we watch the whole trip and even allowing for the slight variation of the people he encounters it gets monotonous. There are instances where we get repeated actions, the fountain gags for example, that are kept to the for front each time they occur even though they could be pushed to one side. Its too much of the same thing.
There are laughs. Much of the first half hour, when most of the jokes are new, is very funny, as is the garden party, the "sausages", and the old man attempting to cross the street towards the end. It can be a very enjoyable romp.
Regrettably I don't think this is the be all and end all that some people feel it is. Granted if its like all of Tati's other films a second viewing might reveal it to be much funnier and better than first thought. However as it stands now I find it to be a funny but very over rated comedy.
Rent it before you decide to buy it.
The plot is simple, Jaques Tati's Mr Hulot tries to come to terms with a changing world as exemplified by his sisters family who lives in a modern home with all of the latest gadgets. In its way its what happens after Mr Hulot gets back from his vacation. (see Mr Hulot's Holiday)The film is a series of loosely connected bits as we see the family and what they go through and how the basically pastoral Hulot deals with all the modern push button conveniences.
Coming as I am late to seeing the films of Tati after having read about them for years I wasn't sure what to expect. It was only several months ago that I finally say Mr Hulot's Holiday and fell in love with it and its style. Based on that I picked up Mon Oncle. I finally sat down to watch it, after reading a Tati biography in the interim and was greatly disappointed.
I think part of the problem is that the film is very leisurely. It takes a while to set up a gag indeed several sequences seem to have no point only to have a pay off later in the film, if at all. Yes, they generate laughs but there aren't enough of them.
Worse there is a great deal of repetition in the film. Several times we watch as Hulot goes up to and down from his roof top apartment, we watch the whole trip and even allowing for the slight variation of the people he encounters it gets monotonous. There are instances where we get repeated actions, the fountain gags for example, that are kept to the for front each time they occur even though they could be pushed to one side. Its too much of the same thing.
There are laughs. Much of the first half hour, when most of the jokes are new, is very funny, as is the garden party, the "sausages", and the old man attempting to cross the street towards the end. It can be a very enjoyable romp.
Regrettably I don't think this is the be all and end all that some people feel it is. Granted if its like all of Tati's other films a second viewing might reveal it to be much funnier and better than first thought. However as it stands now I find it to be a funny but very over rated comedy.
Rent it before you decide to buy it.