Movie Review: "Mon Oncle"

For my film analysis class, we watched "Mon Oncle" as an example of a movie where the plot is pretty much superfluous and the setting is the most important part. It was made in 1958 by Jacques Tati, and it's a wonderful movie. It was very funny, but not necessarily in the laugh out loud way that we're used to today. "Mon Oncle" contrasts modern and old Paris in the 1950s and gently pokes fun at both lifestyles. I have to say, though, the old fashioned life style is a lot more appealing. I absolutely LOVE Mr. Hulot's house. If you watch the movie, you will understand. Since it's neither plot or character oriented, there's not much to say about it. Or, rather, there's not much to say that can fully describe the movie. It's kind of...Charlie Chaplinesque in a way, but Mr. Hulot isn't as overly comic as Chaplin is. The best thing I can think to say about the movie is this: Imagine you (the viewer) are a character in the movie. Or, better yet, imagine the characters are real people. When you walk down the street and pass people, you don't know anything about them outside of that singular experience. You don't know what's going on in their head or if they have some deep inner turmoil. The characters in "Mon Oncle" are the same way. There's no big character development or even much of a story line. It's simply a slice of life from Paris in the late 1950s. It's very beautiful, and if you don't mind slower movies, I would highly recommend it.