JACQUES TATI

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB.  France/Italy, 1958.  Specta Films, Gray-Film, Alter Films, Film del Centauro, Cady Films, Gaumont Distribution.  Screenplay by Jacques Tati, collaboration with Jacques Lagrange, Jean L’Hote.  Cinematography by Jean Bourgoin.  Produced by Jacques Tati.  Music by Franck Barcellini, Alain Romans.  Production Design by Henri Schmitt.  Costume Design by Jacques Cottin.  Film Editing by Suzanne Baron.  Academy Awards 1958.  Cannes Film Festival 1958.  New York Film Critics Awards 1958.  

Jacques Tati continues the adventures of his popular character Monsieur Hulot. This time Hulot takes on the modern world when his sister and her husband buy themselves a super-futuristic house complete with instant oven and antiseptic pebble garden. Thinking him behind the times in his charmingly rustic existence, his brother-in-law gets him a job at his plastics factory. In the meantime, Hulot’s precocious young nephew keeps company with him as he’s the only adult that he can relate to, and their silly adventures make up the bulk of this sometimes delightful, sometimes exasperating French comedy.