MOVIECLUB #4 - Due Monday 5/11: The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows (1959)
Written and Directed by François Truffaut
Co-written by Marcel Moussy

Starring:
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Claire Maurier
Albert Rémy
Guy Decomble

Truffaut was inspired to make this film after seeing a screening of Orson Welle's Touch of Evil

more info TBA




Recommended Double-Feature: Breathless (1960)

More Suggestions:
Jules et Jim (1962)
Band of Outsiders (1964)
Alphaville (1965)
Pierrot le fou (1965)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Excellent. I'm already looking forward to this one. It was a fantastic film.

Well, I have this one waiting for viewing, I'm highly anticipative of how good it will be. Just gotta leave it sitting on my shelf now for two weeks...

And for the double feature, I've watched Breathless already and found it very cool, would happily watch it again. Haven't seen Touch Of Evil yet, so would be happy if that was chosen too.

I am having trouble with timing. I got this in the mail last week but haven't got Amadeus yet. Anyway I suggest Jules et Jim for the selfish reason that I own it but haven't watched it yet whereas I saw Breathless a few years ago (and loved it). Also the copy of 400 Blows I got had a preview for Jules et Jim and it piqued my curiosity.

with Movie Club getting its own subforum, and each pick getting its own thread--i say, screw timing.. if you see a movie on the calendar and you get the inclination to watch it, go for it..

ideally, everybody could watch the movies on the same weekend and meet back here for a bit o' discussion.. but that's just not always the reality of things, but i hate to think our little club is actually holding people back from watching these movies! that'd be kinda defeating the whole purpose, right?

if you watch a movie club pick (or one of its suggested "double feature" movies), go ahead and post your thoughts in the corresponding thread.. in general, i assume people clicking on these threads are (mostly) ready to talk about the movie itself..

I watched The 400 Blows and I don't really get why this movie is so loved. I understand that it bucked the American trend in terms of realism, and I respect that, but I got bored watching it. I kept waiting for the drama but not much really happened. Maybe it's a different culture and a different time but to me the main character didn't really have it that bad and was overreacting to 'life and it's problems', although admittedly his parents were not very good at parenting. I didn't have much sympathy for him until those final few moments of the film. That longing for freedom was portrayed well. What I did find fascinating was the haste and ease of both the legal system and the parental figures to incarcerate a child. I was left dumbfounded. Strangely my favourite scene from the movie, the class excursion with the disappearing students, seemed a bit out of place and unnecessary. I can only give this movie a score of 6.5/10.

More Double Feature Suggestions:

-the rest of the Doinel series
-Small Change (Truffaut on the beginning of the innocence while The 400 Blows was on the end of innocence)
-Thirteen (The 400 Blows on hard drugs)
-The Basketball Diaries (despite being a bastardization of the book, it's good for what it is)
-Running With Scissors

I doubt I'm going to like this movie if Running with scissor is a double feature to it....

I was pushing it on Running With Scissors. I compared the two solely on the fact that both feature renegade teenagers.

But my main suggestion would be to watch it with Thirteen. Two of the best teen films of all-time together. The 400 Blows defined young teenage renegade in the 1950's. Thirteen defined young teenage renegade in this decade.

Is the New Beverly Cinema reading this?

Buscemi wrote:

... The 400 Blows defined young teenage renegade in the 1950's ...

A better nominee for that title would be 'Rebel Without a Cause.' James Dean defined the young teenage renegade for all-time.

A_Roode wrote:

Buscemi wrote:

... The 400 Blows defined young teenage renegade in the 1950's ...

A better nominee for that title would be 'Rebel Without a Cause.' James Dean defined the young teenage renegade for all-time.

Am I the only person in the world who doesn't like James Dean. I watched this movie a few years ago and thought it was not good. His acting was terrible and the "Tearing me apart.." scene was so melodramatic it was almost humorous.


Speaking of movie club timing, interestingly enough I got Alice from the library this week and Thirteen is number 4 (3 now since I got Frost/Nixon yesterday) on my netflix queue. I own 400 Blows, Aguirre and I will watch them for the club on time.

Timing be damned. I will still give my comments when I get them watched and digested.

Have you seen Giant, Donte? His acting in that is much better, as well as being an epically brilliant movie.

Nope never watched that either. I certainly hope it is better than rebel.

Hum...I smell a nominee....Giant.

just finished Breathless.. i didn't realize that it's based on François Truffaut's original idea--but that makes it even more appropriate as a double-feature!

it was like Band of Outsiders in a lot of ways.. in particular, i compare the two because the movies are at their best when nothing is happening.. (think: the "minute of silence" or the dance sequence in Band of Outsiders)

the stakes are quite a bit higher in this one, but even here the main character is just "playing" cops and robbers.. superficially, the movie starts and ends with a bang (pun not intended), but it's the middle where Godard really shines.. the scenes featuring Michel and Patricia lazing in bed and idly talking are the highlights of the movie.. one particular scene that features a staring contest is more interesting than any all of the "action" sequences combined...

it's these Act Two scenes that come off amazingly modern.. Act One and Three come off a bit dated.. the "jump cuts" were revolutionary for the time, but their impact doesn't hold up so well nowadays.. in fact, some of the editing is downright sloppy by today's standards..

the "making sour apples" motif was brilliant.. and i'm pretty sure the ending was great--even though there seems to be some dispute over what the subtitles should've read.. the dvd copy i got from netflix was 4:3 pan & scan with, evidently, a very different translation from the Criterion edition.. between the lack of widescreen and the questionable subtitles, i wonder if i got cheated out of a better movie (a la the recent Let the Wrong One In debacle)..

overall, a great movie.. but i imagine it's far more interesting to film-nerds like us.. appreciation of film history aside, i suppose the whole affair is a bit underwhelming.. as i said, the movie at its best is profoundly modern.. at its worst, its ridiculously dated.. the presence of both makes the first viewing somewhat jarring and disjointed.. i might have a different opinion after watching it again

the influence of this movie is everywhere.. but, in particular, i'd say you could draw a direct line between Breathless and any work of Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh, or Quentin Tarantino



probably won't get to 400 Blows until Sunday evening


edit: i can't believe i forgot to mention the soundtrack!! it was epic--and i hate using that word ever since 4chan ruined it for everybody (it's the next "fail").. i knew the whole thing by heart before i had even seen the movie.. not sure how or why, maybe they've used it in bugs bunny cartoons since.. anyway, watching how the score is set to film is in itself a worthy reason to check this movie out

I am very excited about watching this. I will set aside a private hour or three for the movie this weekend.

i guess the execs over at Criterion watch this board pretty intently.. they are having a sale on the Criterion Collection editions of The 400 Blows (dvd and blu-ray) this week only.. the discounted price ends, coincidentally, on 5/11

We are watching it this weekend, have been waiting patiently for it's turn.

And I'm not surprised by Criterion's actions, we are one of the most popular movie sites around. Our poll section proves it so....

NSpan wrote:i guess the execs over at Criterion watch this board pretty intently.. they are having a sale on the Criterion Collection editions of The 400 Blows (dvd and blu-ray) this week only.. the discounted price ends, coincidentally, on 5/11

silversurfer19 wrote:We are watching it this weekend, have been waiting patiently for it's turn.

And I'm not surprised by Criterion's actions, we are one of the most popular movie sites around. Our poll section proves it so....

My god, the POWER!!!! THE POOOWWWWWEEERRRRRRR!!!!

Oh wait that was sarcasm. We only get about 8 votes. Crap, we have no power...

*lol*

watched the 400 blows tonight.. it should be remembered that it's the first of five Truffaut films based on the Antoine Doinel character.. personally, i preferred Breathless (by a long shot).. but i'll elaborate a bit later


edit: also watched Godard's Les Carabiniers.. boy, what a mess.. it had some powerful moments in terms of anti-war sentiment.. and the intentionally anachronistic feel of the movie was interesting--though it makes the movie come off more dated than anything.. as usual, the highlights were when the least amount of action was happening on screen.. Michaelangelo at the movie theater was priceless.. but, overall, the movie was a jumble of gobbledy-gook..

not recommended

NSpan wrote:watched the 400 blows tonight.. personally, i preferred Breathless (by a long shot)..

\

Me too. Breathless is way more entertaining.

Just finished The 400 Blows, and Eureka! I really enjoyed it. I found it amazing that this movie was 1959, it almost makes all the American Movies from 1959 fake in some way. This movie was real, with real probelms happening every day in France. Did American attempt such a feat, no they were too busy only making the movies that portrayed America the way it wanted to be seen.

I think this is the best movie we've watced in the club to date. The parenting in this movie was very interesting and I believe that it represents a truth to how parenting was, not just in France but in America as well, only we've been shown differently. I'm referring to movies that came out in that time period. I know now they show us more truth. But here was a movie that pushed the line and it was green lighted. 50 years later it still makes an impact on a first time viewer. That is a great movie IMO.

It was strange to view this movie and that time period, how short term everything was handled. Now days everything is viewed as how will this affect the child in 10 years, 20 years, etc. I mean in some parts of the country we are picking the childs daycare based on how that will help get into certain colleges. Ha!

I loved two specific scenes in this movie and both were towards the end. The scene where he explained why he didn't like his mother. And the final scene where he's running to the beach.

Side note, I watched the special features and they had an interview with the main character and he talked about how making this movie changed the way he viewed film. It basically summed up my ambition. To quote (Based on English subtitles).

"Now I see film because I've heard they're good or if I hear they're bad I go to specifically to see the mistakes. To be involved in cinema."

That's my quote from now on, this is why I watch just about anything because I'm always looking for the hidden gem, or so I can see exactly what bad is, otherwise how do you know good.

We watched this over the weekend. I'll try to expand on what I saw, but I haven't much time at the moment, so off the top of my head here are some thoughts.

Well, I found it a breath of fresh air. The realism of this movie is breath taking, and I suppose on its release really introduced the French New Wave in a big way. Some of the cinematography is fascinating, especially the closing scenes such as the long, continuous cut of Antoine running and then, what I think must have been the first time a still was used to finish the movie with him looking straight at the camera.

That final image is haunting. I keep thinking about it all the time. What was in his eyes, and the expression he made is so emphatic. It was like, despite his upbringing, in which he has literally had to fight abortion on ever turn, he still had a glimmer of hope for his future. There were possibilites available. Reaching the seaside had proved that he was able to realise his dreams. This was a very positive note to end the movie on following what had been up until that point a very existential movie.

More to come...

I actually didn't realize how much I liked it. I did the same with 8 1/2 and ended up buying that.

So, first I saw the first hour and shut it off. I was thinking this is too good. It can't be true. Then tonight i put it back in and coasted through it and when it ended, i didn't even realize it. I wanted more!

Some of these cinematic shots are the best I have ever scene. I love all the scenes in school. That leads me a bit to the story, which is like a must for anyone who loves film. They have to see this movie. It's a true story about sacrifice and regret and most defintely loss just to follow your dreams.

It's definitely something I can watch again and again. I'll probably pick this one up as well.