Kinonik

MON ONCLE
dir. Jacques Tati, 1958
Showings at 7 PM Wednesday, 2 PM & 7 PM Saturday

Before Mr. Bean approached the world with his singular and nasty confidence, M. Hulot wandered as a freshly embodied mind dropped into human form: no manual, no training, no prior agreement with his environment about how things are supposed to work. In some ways, he’s an alien. But we know he’s not an alien because he has a sister — and she’s married into the wealthy Arpel family.

The Arpels want you to believe that they have solved living through plastics. Their house is designed for a universal user born pre-loaded with every YouTube tutorial in existence. It rejects tradition, common sense, and reality itself. They’ll have you know that it is very, very expensive. But nothing in it works, and the fountain only runs for guests they want to impress.

Hulot, however, can't be impressed. He approaches every object as if for the first time and the house breaks around him not because he's clumsy but because the system can't accommodate a consciousness that hasn't accepted the end-user license agreement. He's the one figure who can't be optimized, which means he's the one figure who can't be captured. His nephew is delighted by his failure.

Tati films all of this with the detachment of an entomologist. But there’s a warmth to his disinterest, a distinct bias toward the gentle decay of the old quarter, the dogs running their morning circuit, the boys punking on strangers. He shows us the gap between a world designed for a theoretical body and an actual body that arrived without instructions — and how much was on the side of the body, before we paved it over.

Without Mon Oncle we wouldn’t have Jackass. And that would suck.

Mon Oncle The Arpels have built the perfect modern home. Everything is automated and nothing works. Monsieur Hulot wanders through it like a man from another century. We feel you my dude.

There was a spat recently between Ray and Dave Davies and Moby about The Kinks' song Lola. Jacques Demy's Lola has nothing to do with the spat or song. Demy's debut is about love and waiting and has been called a "musical without music." Kinonik is showing Lola tonight, 5/2, in Portland, Maine. You should see it.

Lola Everyone in Nantes is in love with the wrong person. Anouk Aimee waits for a man who left while another waits for her. Demy's debut drips with profound love for his home.

Some folks have had questions about where you are allowed to park, this map should help clarify.