Mon Oncle (1958) - Cinema Cohen (name pending)

Sometimes you invite your friends to a French movie from the 50s and nobody shows up! Always an important lesson being taught at Cinema Cohen (name pending). Anyway, the movie was good!

Pre-show playlist: Mon Oncle Pre-show

Pre-show speech:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Cinema Cohen (name pending)—where I show movies I love and fill you with muffins and words you might not!! You all accepted a silly premise tonight (discerning readers can tell I wrote this before nobody showed up), so thank you! As I said before watching this, I've already placed tonight's film in my top four. Check if you don't believe me! This movie, this silliness, is a statement. There's power in the playful in a world that worships progress, the best, and productivity. And that's Tati.

Tonight's film is 1958's Mon Oncle, the second in a four-part series following Monsieur Hulot—a character as French as he is silly and as universal as he is lanky. This is Jacques Tati's third movie, his second featuring Monsieur Hulot and his first in color. That's a lot of numbers, so here's one more. Ok, three more. Six. That's the total number of films Tati made. However, he's as influential as he is brief. David Lynch called Tati one of his favorite directors and Mon Oncle one of his favorite films. If you search "Tati director praise," you'll tumble into a rabbit hole of who's who directors lining up to sing this guy's praises.

But this was not always the case. In fact, for Tati, it never fully arrived. He won a stray Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (for this movie) but died in relative obscurity and bitterness. One headline at his death read, "Adieu, Monsieur Hulot. We mourn him in his death, but we should have helped him while he was still alive!" As this title suggests, Tati's life wasn't easy—from serving in WWII to estrangement from his children to a career as a French mime (which I've heard is fucking brutal). Yet his films radiate warmth and attention to detail, each as defiant as deeply human. They don't just poke fun at modernity. They scrutinize it with a gentle, almost bewildered eye as if to ask: "How did life get like this?" Hulot himself feels like a relic from the silent era—a kind of anti-modern hero. He has no job, no prospects, just…

Tonight, we're stepping into a world that's as much architecture as it is story. Tati released his final movie, Playtime, in 70mm. This broader strip, used to encapsulate more quality and ratio, was usually reserved for mega-budget epics. Think Lawrence of Arabia. Think The Sound of Music. Why does a comedy starring a guy with five lines need this? But after a couple of frames of a Tati movie, it will become apparent why. These puppies are stuffed like Turducken with the meatiest of colors and sounds. And to what end? I think it makes us ask, “Why?” Tati tugs at our sleeve like a child—curious, persistent, and brilliant—catching us just as we’ve fallen asleep to the absurdities around us. “Why this?” he urges. “Why that?” And we can only stammer, “I’m not sure.” With Tati as our relentless questioner, we see what he sees: the useless gadgets, the labyrinthian landscapes, and the hollow routines to which we’ve somehow surrendered our lives.

So, sit back and let Mon Oncle unfold—not at the pace of progress, but with the timeless patience of a quiet afternoon. Strap on those berets. It's Tati time.

“friends”:

muffins:

recipe: almond poppy seed muffin recipe

notes:

• Very happy with how these turned out.

• Maybe a little bit dry

• First use of the jumbo muffin pan

  • These guys poofed really really nicely

• I want a wetter, crumbier inside, and I’m wondering if the answer to that is as easy as just “more butter”