Mon Oncle (My Uncle)
Tati's next film, 1958's Mon Oncle (My Uncle), was his first film to be released in colour. The plot centers on Mr. Hulot's comedic, quixotic and childlike struggle with postwar France's obsession with modernity and American-style consumerism, entwined with the relationship he has with his nine year old nephew Gérard. Mon Oncle quickly became an international success, and won that year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at Cannes, as well as the New York Film Critics Award. In Place de la Pelouse stands a bronze statue of Tati as Monsieur Hulot talking to a boy, in a pose echoing the movie's poster designed by Pierre Etaix.
On receiving his Oscar, Tati was offered any treat that the Academy could bestow on him. To their surprise, Tati simply requested the opportunity to visit Stan Laurel, Mack Sennett and Buster Keaton at their nursing homes. Keaton reportedly said that Tati's work with sound had carried on the true tradition of silent cinema.
As guest Artistic Director at AFI FEST 2010, David Lynch selected Tati's Mon Oncle alongside Hour of the Wolf (Dir Ingmar Bergman), Lolita (Dir Stanley Kubrick), Rear Window (Dir Alfred Hitchcock) and Sunset Boulevard (Dir Billy Wilder) to be screened in his sidebar program, explaining that...
"I picked these particular films because they are the ones that have inspired me most. I think each is a masterpiece."
Of Tati, Lynch would add in a conversation with Jonathan Rosenbaum, "You know, I feel like in a way he's a kindred soul." "That guy is so creative, it's unbelievable. I think he's one of the all-time greats."
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