Nice effects though.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I have this romantic notion of relocating from the insanity of city life and retreat to the quiet slow paced eternally passive moments of a rural existence. After viewing this film, in it's entirety (touche), I have left this silly notion behind forever.The beautiful scenery and view of a serene, quaint, pastoral countryside is this films greatest asset. The comedic aspects of falling over a barrel of nails, a missing coffin, and a tight corset might have saved the day but not even an approximation of entertainment.After reviewing comments claiming this is the longest running, highest rated Canadian film I am persuaded to not even visit this country!High recommend for locals who want to see their hood on the silver screen. It is an extremely labored, plodding script with very little to offer other than: There is NO Place Like Home!! AMEN

First, the good part. I always appreciate films that give you a glimpse at an unfamiliar place or time, and MON ONCLE ANTOINE truly evokes what life was like in a small Canadian mining town during a cold, snowy winter. The tough life of the mining and farming families isn't sugar- coated.But the bad part...this film drags on at least a half hour too long, with endless shots of nothing happening. Maybe that's the point: winter in Canada is boring. There are several interesting characters, but we only see little slices of their lives and personalities. Despite all the "coming of age" stuff you'll read here, there's really no plot to speak of. It seems like a documentary rather than a drama, edited by someone who wasn't educated in the art of pacing.Why are Canadian critics so enamored of this film? Maybe because it gives them a little frisson of nostalgia about simple Canadian life (which they have probably never experienced first- hand). If I had to pick a film set in Canada that evokes the eerie beauty of the North, I would take BLACK ROBE over MON ONCLE any day of the week.

I might be convinced that this was the best Canadian film at the time of its release, but since 1971 so many better Canadian films have been released, including from Quebec, that it shocks me that this one is still so highly regarded by so many.Part of my dissatisfaction with this movie relates to the English subtitles, for the version recently (Aug 2008) shown on one of the Movie Network channels here in Canada. It's painful to listen to the actors speak dozens of words in French, and then to only get a four word translation in English that cannot possibly reflect what was actually said, particularly when more than one person was speaking. The richness of the dialogue is just ruined for the English viewer by the poor subtitling. I feel somewhat guilty for not understanding French, because that ability may have improved my opinion of the film. But I have to rate it as it comes to me.I also felt it wasn't always clear which man was which in the film. I kept getting Antoine mixed up with the other similar men. I'm actually still not sure how many or few there were (from 2 to 4). Unless that's intentional, that really shouldn't be happening. I'm not sure if this is due to the film itself or the subtitles somehow.Last, I felt that the movie didn't really tell me a lot about anything. I did see a boy learn about death and fallibility, but that happens in a lot of movies. I didn't learn much about that time period in Quebec, the asbestos, or the town.On the positive side, I did get the feeling that I was spending my time viewing a real family in a real town, and that experience was somewhat peaceful despite the subject matter towards the end. Although I disliked a lot about the film, I did keep coming back to the fact that the portrayal was of real people. Unfortunately, I need more to my stories than people-watching, therefore my score of 6.

I saw this film when it first came out and have never forgotten it. My Uncle Antoine is much, much greater than the sum of it's parts. The movie, loosely, is about a pre-adolescent who is sent to live with a relative in a small town in Canada. There are adventures that seem more or less typical but underneath there is a current building. MUA has a leisurely pace but have patience, the reward is coming. I believe the film was sub-titled and as with all non-English speaking movies I've seen it is well worth avoiding any dubbed version. Inevitably dubbed movies reflect the attitudes of a new director and actors, with the additional necessity of lip-synching lines that don't quite fit. The English speaking Amarcord is a travesty, for example, while the sub-titled version sings. My Uncle Antoine is well worth the time to find and watch it in French.