DVDpedia : GQ DVD Library : Genre : E

Summary: Jacques Tati is Francois, the postman. One day, when the carnival comes to town, the villagers make him watch a movie about new fast mail delivery techniques in the US, but the movie is in fact a daredevil show. Francois actually believes that these techniques exist,and tries to apply them during his delivery tour the next day.

Summary: I suppose I am out of touch with "the 90s" in that I detest movies where most of the jokes are based on bodily functions. (Flatulence jokes just aren't funny to me.) I love Mon Oncle because it is a physical comedy - in fact, there is extremely little dialog - and yet it is not insulting to the intelligence. Jacques Tati (one of the great comedians) is M. Hulot, an enigmatic, silent man who lives a quiet, calm life. Dismayed and uncomprehending of his sister's "moderne" life, Hulot strikes up a friendship with his nephew. Some of the best scenes are when the boy leaves his sterile, plastic "hygenic" world for the more earthy but enjoyable world that Hulot occupies (it is as if a small piece of Old France is hanging on in the middle of Paris - the old butcher shops, the cobbled streets). The boy's mother cannot understand why her son would prefer "old things" to the new, modern style.There is a lot of humor in the movie - lots of Keaton-esque sight gags when Hulot tries to deal with the modern appliances in his sister's house - but underneath the humor there is a sweetness and a yearning and a recognition that the new ways aren't always better than the old. This is a movie with humor and heart.True, it is more slow-paced than recent comedies (which may be what the reviewer who thought it "THE MOST BORING MOVIE" was used to), but if you allow yourself to relax and appreciate the slow pace, it's a beautiful and brilliant movie. The adjective "Zen-like" is most overused today, or else I would describe watching this movie as a "Zen-like" experience. It got into my mind and changed me. And I am not a fan of movies, there are very few I like enough to watch through once, let alone repeatedly.