5 years later, we have Tati's first color film and the return of Mr. Hulot in Mon Oncle. This is a different kind of story. Instead of focusing on the banality of vacation life, we're seeing the banality of modernism. The movie is almost a caricature of modernity although satire was the word I saw thrown around.
Huhot lives in a very rustic classical part of a French city - his sister and family live in a ridiculous modern art sort of house that looks nothing like the rest of the area. The movie highlights some of the absurdities and joys of these two panes of glass. One part that struck out to me is the rich couple discussing music and driving off to a fancy dinner club while Hulot and company stumble into and out of the local dive bar and you get the impression the lower classes, like the lower decks on Titanic, were a better place to party.
Huhot has a lot of interactions here with his nephew - (hence, the title - My Uncle) - and you def. get the impression the boy is latching onto a world outside the sterile world he lives in
once again a lot of the gags are visual, the dialogue sparse - and the sounds are sharply contrasted between an easy French Cafe Soundtrack and the harshness of a factory, with clangs, buzzes, dings, dongs, hammers, etc. I guess this was his most popular film - and I must confess I didn't feel like it was filmed in 1958 - I thought it was more of a 60's or 70's film so the color and the photography are great.
Might be worth getting a box set someday - guess we'll see - anyways - got one more Tati to go in this set of films -
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