To once again prove that some things are funny no matter what country you're from, we arrive at Mr. Hulot's Holiday. This French film from the 50s is rather hard to put into words as it doesn't really have a storyline, and scenes incorporating different elements of comedy are connected to each other, but each is quite short in length. The movie itself is about Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati), a bachelor who arrives at a beach hotel in his small but noisy car one day. The other residents of the hotel are immediately annoyed with his presence as he opens the front door during a huge breeze and causes things to go flying across the lobby. Throughout the rest of the film, he causes more disturbances (but doesn't mean to) and some girl who lives at a nearby boarding house wants to be with him. Since that is basically all there is to the plot, I will instead focus on some of the things I consider to be the film's funniest moments, such as when Hulot is trying to fix his car and causes it to bump another car in front of his. The second car starts rolling down a road near a chateau, and one of its spare tires (which has a horn attached) falls off the side. Every second or two, the tire rolls over and causes the horn to go off, which sounds remarkably like a duck. Some old man on the porch of the chateau gets his shotgun and tries to shoot at what he thinks is another thing to put on his mantle. Another hilarious bit has Hulot take a kayak out to the beach. At first it goes well, but as he begins using his oar, the boat suddenly cracks in the middle and both ends of it point straight up. What makes it so funny is how Hulot just seemingly disappears out of existence when the boat breaks. Filmed in a town called Saint Marc sur Mer in the french region of Bretagne, Tati wanted to make a movie in this place even before World War II essentially put french ambitions (no matter what they were) on hold for 4 long years. A metal statue dedicated to Hulot was later built to watch over the town. While this movie isn't particularly famous, it is most likely the thing that has brought the greatest amount of exposure to Saint Marc. If those living there are anything like Hulot, they must be fun. If you go into this movie expecting a story, you have to have the self control to get rid of this mindset before you even start watching, since there isn't one. I felt the part at the end with the fireworks was kind of irritating, but overall, this movie is ok because it's style is reminiscent of Buster Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and all the other icons of physical film comedy.
