438 Mon oncle Antoine

[cdnchris]

Mon oncle Antoine

[Michael Kerpan]

Glad to see that this turned out well. Now, if only lots of people will buy this. (Since I already have virtually everything included in the set -- including two very different transfers of the film -- I probably won't buy this right away).

And I did manage to get an e-mail from Michel Brault in connection with this release. ;~}

[owheeler]

David Stratton prefaced the SBS screening of ONCLE with the story of how Jutra, dying of cancer, disappeared and of how his body was found months later in the forest. He wanted to die with dignity (on his own terms) rather than ignominiously in a hospital.

Alzheimer's and the St. Lawrence River, actually. Tragic, regardless. I got all choked up seeing the excerpt of him jumping into the lake at the end of A tout prendre. I'll have to search that out. Mon Oncle Antoine was a revelation to me.

[Michael Kerpan]

Alzheimer's and the St. Lawrence River, actually. Tragic, regardless. I got all choked up seeing the excerpt of him jumping into the lake at the end of A tout prendre. I'll have to search that out. Mon Oncle Antoine was a revelation to me.

A tout prendre is in the Canadian NFB DVD box set -- unfortunately, all the rest of that set is included in Criterion's MOA release. There are a few other early films out on DVD -- Wow and Felix Leclerc, troubador (stand-alone releases, not subbed, I suspect) and two collaborations with Michel Brault (Wrestling and Quebec-USA) that are included in the NFB's Michel Brault box set (a must-have release, I think -- as it is fully subtitled).

[Hail_Cesar]

A tout prendre is in the Canadian NFB DVD box set -- unfortunately, all the rest of that set is included in Criterion's MOA release. There are a few other early films out on DVD -- Wow and Felix Leclerc, troubador (stand-alone releases, not subbed, I suspect) and two collaborations with Michel Brault (Wrestling and Quebec-USA) that are included in the NFB's Michel Brault box set (a must-have release, I think -- as it is fully subtitled).[/quote]
It isn't written nowhere that A tout prendre is in the Jutra box-set. You are sure ? Do you have it ? A link ?

p.s. I have the Brault box-set and it is great!

[Michael Kerpan]

It isn't written nowhere that A tout prendre is in the Jutra box-set. You are sure ? Do you have it ? A link ?

p.s. I have the Brault box-set and it is great!

Well, I bought the NFB set when it was first released (ages ago) -- and it then included A tout prendre. But the current version of the set (as described on NFB's site) no longer lists this. So, maybe, the current version of the set has dropped this.

The Brault set (and the Frederick Back one) are my best DVD purchases from Canada ever.

[obscura]

Can't believe I had never seen this film before this past Thursday.

Rent it. No, buy it. You'll get addicted. I promise.

Beautiful stuff.

[GringoTex]

Can't believe I had never seen this film before this past Thursday.

Ditto. I usually don't care for these treacly coming of age tales set in some salt of the earth ghetto. This one is different. It's stunning. Jutra takes the best of Truffaut and incorporates it into his own unique almost Vigo-esque exploration of place and climate.

The scene where Benoit grabs Carmen's heart with his victorious march down Main Street after his snowball attack on the mine owner is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

[Michael Kerpan]

My only small reservation about this film is Benoit's "psychedelic" dream, towards the end. I love every other moment.

I hope people will be inspired to explore more classic Quebecois cinema as a result of this film. (www.archambault.ca is your friend -- in the event one wants to explore -- they have a lot more Quebecois stuff than Amazon.ca). (this film made me as much a Michel Brault fan as a Claude Jutra one).

[ineedyoubad]

Can't believe I had never seen this film before this past Thursday.

Same here, i think it has to do with my laziness to discover new films or
film maker. I have bad habit of sticking with my favorite directors, sometime miss out a lot of good films. Only reason, i finally saw this film is because of criterion. #-o
This film is my favorite criterion release of the year. =D>

[Queiroz]

Sentiments shared. It has a sacred atmosphere, and it was the first time in quite a while that a film was so good it shocked me. Its a masterpiece.

[Saturnome]

I believe they're only available in french, but here you can watch Jutra's Félix Leclerc troubadour and the classic La Lutte, made with Michel Brault. There's also a few of his films too here, Les raquetteurs being a crucial step in Québec's cinema and Pour la suite du monde, maybe my favourite documentary.

[Michael Kerpan]

I believe they're only available in french, but here you can watch Jutra's Félix Leclerc troubadour and the classic La Lutte, made with Michel Brault. There's also a few of his films too here, Les raquetteurs being a crucial step in Québec's cinema and Pour la suite du monde, maybe my favourite documentary.

All of Brault's early films are included (with subtitles) in the NFB box set available (rather inexpensively) from www.archambault.ca (and maybe other places). Les raquetteurs and La Lutte are in this set -- as is Pour la suite du monde. the latter film (made with Pierre Perrault) is also available on DVD (with subs) in Volume 1 of the Pierre Perrault series. (alas, the subsequent volumes of this series have not yet been moved to DVD).

[obscura]

You are right. One of the most emotionally moving scenes I've ever seen. That scene and the very last one alone are worth the 37$.

The scene where Benoit grabs Carmen's heart with his victorious march down Main Street after his snowball attack on the mine owner is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

[Antoine Doinel]

The National Film Board of Canada has digitized their library, making over 700 films available for viewing online at their website for free, including Mon Oncle Antoine.

[kaujot]

Holy shit, that's great.

[cdnchris]

The Cat Came Back \:D/

[Michael Kerpan]

For starters, I highly recommend the short films La lutte (Wrestling) and Les raquetteurs (the Snowshoers).

If one finds these reasonably playable, I can recommend other longer (also unsubbed) films. I don't think one should be bothered by the lack of subtitles on either of the two films listed above, however.

[Hail_Cesar]

Pour la suite du monde is the greatest movie on this site it's quite sad for you it doesn't have english subs...

[Michael Kerpan]

Pour la suite du monde is the greatest movie on this site it's quite sad for you it doesn't have english subs...

One can, however, get this absolutely marvelous film -- with subtitles -- in either of two (indispensable) box sets from http://www.archambault.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (and perhaps other online sellers). It is in both a Michel Brault box set and a Pierre Perrault one.

Brault

Perrault

Both sets are bargains -- even considering the overlap.

[HerrSchreck]

I watched this last night and it was quite anticlimactic vs all the buildup and claims to greatness. I put this on w my girlfriend, assuring her that this would ne a No Brainer Home Run. "Not like Fanny & Alexander, but in that ballpark," I said.

Ouch. To me the film was a series of dull to very good vignettes stunted by failures in performance and failures in technique-- of course this is all very subjective and many others adore the film, so take this as one man's opinion (though I know others who it did nothing for as well and are as perplexed as I am about this film).

First, his use at times of zooming away from his setups, in lieu of a tracking back, was grating (I find zoom irritating in all but a very few instances).

Secondly, use of ambiguity is one of the most powerful weapons a filmmaker has in his arsenal... but I found this film's narrative imbalances in detail... clunky. For example, relationships and backgrounds are fully established for some and not others... we have the complete establishment of Jos' family (the miner-cum-lumberjack who loses his boy), and Jos' history of bouncing through jobs, his restlessness. Antoine's history is set forth by the time the film wraps. Yet Benoit-- why is he with his uncle? Who and where are his mother and father? Who is Carmen (who had moments as a very moving character) and how did she wind up there?

I thought the rendering of the hideously caricatured moloch of a mine boss trotting down main street chucking kids Xmas candy into the muddy slush-- after the relaying that this was the 2nd year without raises-- incredibly simplistic and practically collegiate in its mindless unreality... with the town gone hushed, gazing through their windows with fearful hatred at this crotchety old demon tossing his gifts like turds to turds, with nary a whisper above the wet splatty sloshing of the horses hooves and the hiss of the sleigh. It turned it into a generic angry slap at all bosses, rather than a portrait of the boss of that mine, in that town, at that time. The snowball throw and the kid's little triumphant strut as the boss and horse turned and fled as though struck by a p-38 Lightning-- and Carmen's nod of affirmation "Yes, you are our liberator and our hero.. and-- I am proud to say, My Man.."-- the entire event played out as though something FROM the mind of a fantasizing child, not the world of adults.

So many times I expected more to be done with Benoit, some kind of variegated response to his little journey there (what journey, how is this a coming of age story?), some kind of output-- however ambiguous or vairegated-- from the narrative input to the prism of the boys face... but all he did was stare with that nostrily 1/8th of an awkward teenaged smile. Add to this moments of horrendously inappropriate music at times (knee slapping banjo hoedown barn music-- do I recall correct?-- freezing cold in a blizzard on the way to pick up the body of a dead young boy?)... and Antoine's breakdown in the end was some of the most irritating line-reading/actor's performance I've ever seen or heard. The man's voice cut into the brain like an accidental bite into tinfoil.

One saving moment, a beautiful little experimental short film that was pure tour de force, was Benoit's flop out in his bedding after the long, cold journey and disappointment, with his bugged little erotic dream... even though it didn't really register much of a connection to the feel of the narrative before or after--perhaps an imagined moment of manly triumph vs the newly failed image of male power that constituted the now humliated Uncle?. Who knows.

I respect those who say this is the best Canadian film ever made, or think this is a masterpiece... but I couldn't feel any more different about it. I'd love to hear some elucidation regarding what, specifically this film does and means to the people here who love it. It was nice at times to get that slice-of-life essence of that rural Canadian existence, but...

Both I and my old lady shut the TV a little perplexed by all the accolades... frustrating, because there were moments where the thing was right there, just on the cusp--having gathered accumulated instances with subtexts never touched off or even acknowledged-- of blooming into something sublime, with just a bit more assembly in the symbol order, in the subtext, and in the narrative distribution, and little extra dabs of exposition here and there that would allow the ambiguity to sing a lot more meaningfully, and the registration of this day in the young boy's life to take root with just a bit more contribution from the viewer... becausethe film and I didn't have a recipcrocal relationship-- I wasn't giving back to it and making it my own, which is what makes so many films in this style so special. I wasn't getting enough from it to in turn give back to it. I just kept staring at that kids face, and finding myself surprised-- he started to get on my nerves with that never-changing look on his face-- a self-aware kid in front of camera and cast & crew standing in as a self-conscious, self-aware Benoit among the world of the characters... but for me the spell wore off and I just saw the kid on the set, aware of the camera, crew etc. In the use of the compelling nature of a young, awkward boy's innocence, and the effect the right kind of face can have on the viewer, I kept wishing I was watching Olmi's IL POSTO.

Again, one opinion among many. Paying my opinion no mind is not only understood but encouraged.

[Michael Kerpan]

According to L'encyclopedie canadienne -- this film is based on the childhood experiences of Clement Perron (who wrote the underlying story). It was apparently one of the first films that tried to capture the experience of rural, working class Quebecois (in a class-conscious fashion). Things you assume to be unrealistic might have had more foundation in fact than you suspect (as I don't believe you are a Francophone from rural Quebec, who grew up during the 30s and 40s).

The film also has one of my favorite scores ever.

I suspect your hostility is just a manifestation of cosmic balance -- evening out my hostility towards your beloved Kobayashi. ;~}

[HerrSchreck]

I suspect your hostility is just a manifestation of cosmic balance -- evening out my hostility towards your beloved Kobayashi. ;~}

Not at all-- we agree on many things! You've been ragging all over Kobayashi for pretty much ever-- it's nothing new-- and I know you and he are a lost cause (I was genuinely stumped at your comparing him to Spielberg, though, which was more strange than hostile, thus my jumping in on that).

If you need reassurance that I don't have You On The Brain, that I saw Antoine last night and had been planning on posting on it since 11pm last night... well, I promise... cross my heart and hope to die! It's always disappointing for me when CC's that I was really psyched not only to see but to be hugely moved by, fall flat. Eddie Coyle was another, as was Wise Blood. R Crusoe on Mars. You'll usually see posts like the above when that happens... I'm inviting conversation not to prove anybody wrong or duke it out, but to hear the strongly felt other side of the coin-- I do that especially when the threads have nothing but short "Best film e-var!" commendations, and I want to hear something deeper.

It was apparently one of the first films that tried to capture the experience of rural, working class Quebecois (in a class-conscious fashion). Things you assume to be unrealistic might have had more foundation in fact than you suspect (as I don't believe you are a Francophone from rural Quebec, who grew up during the 30s and 40s).

Well, I already acknowledged that fact re "It was nice at times to get that slice-of-life essence of that rural Canadian existence," and I've already heard statements like "If you want to watch a film that will help you begin to understand what it means to be a Canadian, start with MOA." I'm aware of all that, but I'm talking about something far more universal and and non map-specific: I'm talking about character and authenticity.

Having said that, I'd welcome a thoughtful dialog (as I mentioned above), so I'd love to know what you meant, specifically, or at least "for example", by pointing out that I'm not a 30's/40's Quebecois Francophone (no viewer of the film, is, in fact, including it's maker).

[Michael Kerpan]

The cosmic balance thing has nothing to do with intentionality. ;~}

Jutra was indeed a 30s/40s Francophone, being only one year younger than Perron. He would have been 10 years old by 1940. My sense is that the film's time period slipped forward a bit to around 1950. I get a just past-WW2 vibe -- not a during-WW2 one.

You claimed the behavior of the mine owner was mindlessly unreal -- but I would bet that this WAS based on fact -- and I didn't find it at all incredible, knowing what I know of Quebec during that era.

I know someone else who was so annoyed by the zooms that it put him off the whole film. This didn't bother me -- but maybe it has a different impact in the new letterboxed version (I've only seen it in original full-frame form).

[HistoryProf]

I'm torn between effusive praise and general affection for this one. I didn't so much feel it was a "coming of age" story as one of the death of childhood innocence. Uncle Antoine's a Drunkard, Aunt Cecile is a slut, Carmen's got boobs and Benoit wants them, and death was more than just putting on some goofy robes and saying stuff over a box. It has an odd mix of unrestrained nostalgic charm and some really profound appreciation for the fleeting nature of life. The ending really packs a wallop, as you see Benoit's realization of just how real death is - and his scathing contempt for his aunt and uncle was something else - that kid did an incredible job of conveying that almost wordlessly - basically just with his eyes.

One thing that jumped out at me was how Altman-esque much of the cinematography was. The scene where the pretty rich lady came into the store and everyone is gossiping about her within earshot of the camera as she pretended to look at the merchandise was straight out of M*A*S*H* - as were the zooms into faces and rooms, often from a separate space. Is there any connection between Altman and Jutra? could one have influenced the other? Or am I just nuts? (the most probable answer)

I do appreciate Herr Schreck's befuddlement with the praise for this...but it seems to have a power that seeps in to you - perhaps you need to live in a snowy clime for it to really 'work' for you? I don't know....I do have a few Quebecois friends though, and I wonder what they feel about it. What's so impressive is how it manages to exude such charming silliness while maintaining a much weightier undertone and choosing to end on a rather dour note. A celebration of family values and the healing power of Christmas this is not...and Unlce Antoine is no Darren McGavin. And man, what I wouldn't give to return to a day when stores put out their holiday decorations the morning of Christmas Eve!!

It would be something to see TBS retire A Christmas Story for a few years and spin this for 24 hours instead each December.