Mon Oncle (1958)

There are a handful of filmmakers who are genuine originals. Their work is immediately recognisable, it doesn't look like what came before it, and the films that come after are at best a pale comparison.

Jacques Tati is such a filmmaker, and Mon Oncle is perhaps the best example of his unique vision. Every frame of film seems to have been carefully planned, with foreground action, background action and location all coming together to create something intriguing and engaging.

Tati is often compared to Chaplin, but they are both similar and quite different. Both use physical comedy, an iconic central character, and laughs to say something of social significance, but each also have a style of their own. Mon Oncle pokes fun mostly at the bourgeois, the modernists and the social climbers, but also takes a poke at people like the street sweeper who never seems to get enough work done.

It is light-hearted and well intended humour that leaves you with a gentle smile at the end, where it seems the only ones with real purpose are the dogs looking for a feed and a place to pee.

A comedy classic.

What are your thoughts?

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