Opening Statement

Watching Mon Oncle I wondered, is it possible to feel your entire body smile? To grin from one end of your being to another, the hairs on your head fluttering with glee, warmth spreading out from your chest down to the tips of your toes? This is how a Tati movie makes me feel — by Sarah Gorr, June 12, 2017

Tati's Critique of Modern Architecture

While many people were celebrating the increased prosperity, Tati had reservations. He saw the new global culture chipping away at traditional France and taking the joie de vivre and common sense with it. While this change was taking place in a variety of domains at the time, Tati focused on its most conspicuous manifestations: architecture and design — by Alex Moore, June 13, 2017

Nostalgia and Realism

Watch just about any of Tati’s movies and it is abundantly apparent that Tati had a difficult time adjusting to the modern France of the 1960s. Through the character of Hulot, he illustrates his struggles with technology—Hulot misunderstands it, fights it, even throws it away. One would think, then, that with this nostalgia would come romanticism — by Sarah Gorr, June 14, 2017

Scenessential: Comedic Discomfort in the Modern World

Mon Oncle demonstrates the juxtaposition between what adults consider important and what children consider important. Monsieur Hulot is the bridge between those two worlds: he is an adult but with the innocence and fascination with the world that children possess — by Felicia Elliott, June 15, 2017

First Viewing: Futuristically Dated

While I had seen and adored The Illusionist, the 2010 animated film that borrows heavily from Tati’s style, I wasn’t quite prepared for how emotional this film would make me. Maybe that’s a stigma I have against comedies or a stigma against minimalism, but Mon Oncle is a breath of fresh air — by John Gilpatrick, June 15, 2017

Related Review: The Illusionist

With its gorgeous, rich, and textured animation it’s hard to notice the absence of discernible dialogue in The Illusionist—much like the real life films starring the fictionalized subject Jaques Tati — by Cindy Waldeck, June 16, 2017