Review of Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) by Lyndon G — 14 Nov 2007
The first Hulot movie is in black and white and is the most outright funny. Jacques Tati started out as a mime, and his movies turn scenes into pantomimes of real life with throwaway dialogue that is more like a sound effect (oddly reminiscent of atmospheric dialogue snippets in a computer game, but poking fun at the subtexts and attitudes of small talk).
The beginning of the movie is almost exasperatingly slow, but after twenty minutes or so you start to look at the screen differently, and anyway the comedy builds momentum. I can't fault this movie on its idiosyncrasies and wouldn't.
When I mentioned to my dad I'd seen it, he remembered a shed with fireworks and something extremely funny about it. He hadn't seen the movie since it came out in theatres--over half a century.
I thought that scene was the funniest too, but by a small margin, and it isn't the cleverest.
This review of Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) was written by Lyndon G on 14 Nov 2007.
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday has generally received very positive reviews.
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