Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Vonia Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (French: Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot) (1953) 5/10 The first Hulot film, A silent film with music. Awkward angles man, Brilliant slapstick, visual puns. Sketches make Fun in the Sun. Yes, but was oft bored. Politics were distracting, No color, no plot, Too slow, without enough laughs. Love Tati, but not this one. Somonka is a form of poetry that is essentially two tanka poems (the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format), the second stanza a response to the first. Traditionally, each is a love letter and it requires two authors, but sometimes a poet takes on two personas. My somonka will be a love/hate letter to this film? #Somonka #PoemReview

Julian Evans Some movies entertain and fill the senses with thrills and excitement while others manipulate emotions and leave us in tears. Here is a film that does all of that and so much more besides. I'm not French and I didn't holiday in France either; yet here I am, full of nostalgia for childhood holidays, the sun, the beach and the unwritten rules of the two-week holiday. Tati captures the nuances of life that we all cherish, whether previously observed or not. To be human, to be shy, to be eccentric, serious, tired, cool, arty, a dragon or a man with no purpose other than to follow six paces behind his wife. The music, the pace, the sheer silliness, the unintelligible voice on the Tannoy, the child's head appearing through the steering wheel. How can anyone over the age of 25 not watch this with a smile on their face? I have read some reviews that call it boring and repetitive... no doubt written by folks that need aliens, car chases, guns, blood and expletives every other word. What good is a film without nudity, the main character with his shirt ripped off, sirens screaming, breakneck pace and clipped dialogue? To those people: one day, when you've experienced more of life, when you're ready and receptive you will 'get' it, I promise you. And when that happens you will see what is meant by the reverence metered out on this film. It's beautifully made, utterly charming, funny, poignant, cool, relaxing, annoying, shrewd, enlightening, observational, human, warm, unassuming, inoffensive and completely brilliant.

Ilpo Hirvonen Jacques Tati made a few short films in the 1930-40's, but in 1949 made his first full-length feature film, Jour de fete. Despite the wishes of his producer, Tati decided to leave his Francais the mailman character behind and developed a new character, Monsieur Hulot. He had no idea how much attention the film would get and therefore wasn't going to continue making films around this character. Well we all know this didn't happen, after Mr. Hulot's Holiday Jacques Tati still made four other 'Hulot' films. Mr. Hulot's Holiday ironically described mass tourism and it's a great example of Tati's satire, which exudes intelligence.The story takes place in a holiday resort in a small French seaside town. The guests in the hotel are normal; businessmen, elderly couples, young people, all sorts of people. They all act as people usually act on a vacation; they play bridge, try new activities, read, eat and relax. But then Mr. Hulot arrives, who very hardly tries to do these things considered to be normal, but fails miserably.Jacques Tati's first full-length film, Jour de fete (1949) was a tribute to the burlesque genre and his other films can be described with that word too. But one must realize that his films certainly aren't ordinary compared to other burlesque comedies by Chaplin, Lloyd, Marx bros or Keaton. He completely rejects the traditional formula of it; the two main characters don't marry each other in the end, the dialog doesn't make sense and there is no direct plot for the viewer to follow. But this certainly doesn't mean Tati and for instance Chaplin wouldn't have anything in common, they have a lot of in common. Just as Chaplin so doesn't Tati care that much about dialog; it mostly just expressed the difficulties of communication. Just as Chaplin so did Tati have an own standard character - both the tramp and Mr. Hulot are comical heroes, who make the people around them look ridiculous. Both of the characters that Dostoyevsky's Idiot has: they're individuals who seem like idiots to others, but like geniuses to others. As did Dostoyevsky so did Jacques Tati portray a world where a sanatorium is the only place for a saintJacques Tati plans his gags for years. Many film historians, researchers and critics have written several studies about them. I'd like to point out the opening scene of Mr. Hulot's Holiday, which has often been praised as one of the most brilliant scenes made in the history of cinema: We see a boat and waves hitting it - a peaceful beach. Then Jacques Tati suddenly takes us to a railway station where people try to catch the right train. We hear absurd announcements and see the tourists floating from one platform to another. This violent contrast of course, makes us think about the connection between them; the people are coming to destroy the peace of the beach, they're coming to turn it to a hectic place just like the railway station. But this contrast is also very poetic; if one pays attention one will notice that the waves float exactly in the same way the tourists float from one platform to another. The people always come in the same order to the platform and this refers to the mechanization of life. In Jacques Tati's films he often puts dialog in an absurd place: in the opening scene the people try and try to listen what the announcements are saying, but end up running insanely back and forth. I think by this Jacques Tati wants to say us that if we try to only follow the words in cinema (in life) we'll end up just like the tourists.The sound world of Jacques Tati is very rich and even that he doesn't 'believe' in dialog, he uses narrative based on sounds a lot. And the relation between the picture and the sound is perfect. His visual gags are geographically perfect and his satire which exudes intelligence is full of hilarious gags about objects and vehicles. In addition to this Jacques Tati has a great talent of observing: just with few short shots he manages to tell us the main points of the situation.Mr. Hulot's Holiday is an ironic description of mass tourism and it elegantly criticizes the destruction of old habitat. It shows us how order and disorder work - this can be seen clearly in the opening scene. Even that Jacques Tati's production is one of the most compact ones he is always seen in the lists of the world's greatest directors. With only four films he managed to create an unforgettable character, Mr. Hulot. I can highly recommend you to watch the other Hulot films as well: Mon oncle, Play Time and last but not least Trafic.

Tom May This is a languid, poetic comedy, with the sounds and the slapstick judged and timed to perfection. It all ends up rather wistfully - of course, they'll be back in Saint Marc Sur Mer next year. Won't they...? The eternal joy and melancholy of summer holidays at the seaside is distilled in this majestically economical, precise film.I once cited this in a song of mine; concerning, appropriately enough, a speculative scenario of Britain and France merging into one country - as could easily have happened in the mid-1950s. Indeed, we have interesting scenes of the aloof Hulot's interactions with some archetypal genteel English holidaymakers - the glorious tennis sequence.The use of sound is masterful; everything from distant radio frequencies to the ping-pong of tennis balls, to a creaking door, is turned into a clockwork ballet of comedy: syncopated rhythms eventually dissolving into chaos and absurdity. And there is Alain Romans' lovely score: all Gallic sophistication and forlorn vibraphone, it captures the essence of the film perfectly.Anyway, great film; this is one for those who prefer their comedy to be like a fine wine, rather than an 'Xtra-Large' soft drink.