#9 Is that a tire? 15 September, 2008

Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)

This film is absurdly funny. I am big fan of funny writing, but “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday” reminds me that films can be visually funny. I would try to describe some of the visual puns, but the images are funny simply because you can’t show how that would happen with words--similar to Charlie Chaplin films.

After the film finished I realized that there was very little dialogue. Jacques Tati, the director, relizes heavily on the slapstick humor. The story, which is merely the vehical to give us the comic situations, revolves around a small beach community of seasonal vacationers. There are no profound realizations about the characters or human nature, but that isn’t the point. It reminds me of the Goofy how-to shorts. We’re not really suppose to be learning how to fish. The how-to simply allows for Goofy to get into trouble by catching himself or a tree that acts as a slingshot sending flying through the air. We’re meant to simply enjoy the visual satire, it’s like a vacation from traditional films. Consider this the anti-thesis to “Juno” where all the laughs come from witty dialogue.

We need to bring back witty visual jokes. Writers have had to much fun, time for some one else to crack the jokes.