June 22, 2004
One of the greats!
Jacques Tati was (for his day) a modern day Chaplin. If you have a fast connection you can get a vague idea of his charm here. Enjoy.
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I saw the second to the last of the Mr. Hulot films, Playtime and thought it wonderful. So unlike Chaplin as well - his story structures are far less plot driven and antics more akin to cartoons than Keystone Kops. Still a genius in his own right. Thanks, Milkwood!
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Milkwood, what a wonderful site! Thank you! I saw Monsieur Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle when I was very little, and they're still two of my favorite films.
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Yes, Tati is great. I had the good fortune of seeing Playtime on a big screen. I enjoyed it--but I have to say that I worked harder at watching it than pretty much any other film I've seen. My eye muscles were exhausted by the end from constantly searching the screen! And there were moments when everybody else in the theatre was laughing, but I just could not find the joke amidst the clutter. (Of course, there were other moments where I seemed to be the only one who was noticing certain jokes.) As an aside, fans of Tati should check out Triplets of Belleville--there's a strong Tati influence, and a couple of explicit references to Tati.