Like the man said if you're going to steal then steal from the best, something Jacques Tati took to heart, it seems clear he spent his youth screening one Buster Keaton movie after another and then starting again from the beginning until he'd mastered every sight gag, every move, every iota of comic timing from a master and then done his inept best to imitate it. He does, of course, rate top Brownie Points for taste and lesser Brownie Points for Effort but it's not enough to admire the Eiffel Tower to the extent that it inspires you to design and build one of your own, the trick is not just to replicate but to excel and come up with a better tower than the original. This is not to say that this movie lacks entertainment value in fact if you've never heard of or actually seen even a mediocre Buster Keaton movie and dig slapstick then chances are you'll enjoy this. Alas, I have seen the odd Buster Keaton movie ...

Oh, why do I love this movie so much? It must be its bright, sun-drenched beach setting, its sunny disposition, its sweet optimism and untempered innocence, its cheerful, gentle depiction of a bygone era when a disparate group of folk gather to vacation at a funky Gallic seaside resort. Whatever it is, this 1953 farce fills me with joy every time I see it. It was my wide-eyed introduction to French comic Jacques Tati eons ago.It's obvious that Tati was an inveterate people-watcher. He depicts the foibles and peccadilloes of his eclectic array of characters with insight, charm and wit. Tati's view of humanity is both loving and generous. His main character, M. Hulot (played by M. Tati), is a somewhat daffy and eccentric bumbler who interacts with the other characters and lurches about leaving havoc in his wake. There's no plot to speak of, just a series of comic and nostalgic vignettes that segue effortlessly from one to the next.This is the kind of comedy where you feel compelled to recount your favorite funny moments afterwards. Is it the recalcitrant horse, the gravity-prone mass of taffy, the ping-pong ball that propels Hulot to throw a peaceful card game into chaos, Hulot's wildly eccentric, but brutal, tennis serve that decimates his opponents, the deflatable wreath at the funeral, the restless tiger-skin rug, the suspense-ridden trek of the little boy holding the two ice-cream cones? You name your own.I tittered, I chuckled, I laughed heartily and, occasionally, I guffawed. Yet there is a tinge of sadness at the finale as the activities wane, the guests depart and the hotel is shuttered up. Another endless summer finally ends. "See you next year!" is the parting refrain. "See you next time!" I say of this movie treasure.

As I review quite a lot of the films I own or see, the number of times one refers to a character, or style that is Tati-esque, or Tati-like, that I really thought I should remind myself of the great man's possibly greatest and most influential film.This being one of the first 'foreign' dvds I bought, I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of films since and of course, one sees things in different contexts and with new references the more one experiences.So, coming home stressed and feeling a little ill, I got this golden gem out and to let its naive charm soothe and gently amuse me. I wasn't after laugh-a-second hysterics that demanded all of me but something where I could follow Mr Hulot's adventures if I so wished, or otherwise - and it wouldn't matter - one can dip and out of Mr Hulot's Holiday like ones toe in the resort waters, that Tati's comedy figure goes to. Tati's age at this point in his career surprised me slightly - I always got the impression of an older man than he is here.Yes, it's almost certainly true that films and comedy will never be made like this again - and before someone cries 'shame!!' I have to say to the contrary; time, fashions, mood and comedy move on. Show this now to the average family who would supped it up with relish when it was released would now just look at each other, perplexed and I bet that soon, it would be switched off.However, from a film-lover's point of view, we learn to see beyond the surface and be broad-minded enough to see why it worked and how those elements can still touch us. We have our beloved DVDs of Mr Tati and the like and let's appreciate them now, as they were, not as how today's society and audience would.Jacques Tati may not roll off the roll-call of comedy greats as readily as Chaplin, Keaton or Laurel & Hardy, but in many ways, he has been just as influential. So, lap up the best of Tati, here!

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.