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Summary: Launched a New Wave!
Review: Truffaut's classic launched the New Wave in French cinema, an extraordinary time in foriegn film.One of my all time favorite films, The 400 Blows captures the desire of freedom. The central character, Antoine Doinel, is a school boy struggling with the confines of society just wanting to have a little fun. If you like this film seek out Antoine in Truffaut's follow-up films: Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run.
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Summary: A True-to-the-Bones-and-Heart Modern Day Dickensian Fable
Review: The most heart-felt movie I've ever seen is a powerful mix of sharp-eye, hardhitting autobiographical remembrance of a nearly bruised childhood and a celebration of the wide-open, spontaneous and lyrical qualities of cinema to capture pointed truths of family, school and street lives as seen through the curiously haunted eyes of one Antoine Doinel, a modern-day Dickensian hero in a decidedly unglamours Paris, searching, often wrongheadly, for love and acceptance while, almost against himself, challenging the authorial rules imposed on children growing up in conformist post-WWII France. The film's tone is one of anguished bittersweetness and quiet defiance, counterpointed by bursts of joyful freedom and naughty prank playings as shared by many in their pre-adolescenthood. Doniel's friendship with the well-off but neglected Rene is also among the most moving portraits of childhood friendship ever. An unforgettable portrait, a cutting social study, a New Wave classic and Truffaut's best, but most importantly a timeless and univsersal "true" story. And yes, the last freeze, when it comes, is a stunner. Gosh, I just love it! (P.S., this relatively small and quiet masterpiece also happens to be the all-time favorite film of John Woo, imagine!)
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Summary: Why No French Closed Captions?
Review: A truly great film in a wonderful format! I would be happy to purchase any film ever made by Francois Truffaut if they were available on DVD- 'Argent de Poche', 'Jules et Jim', 'L'Enfant Sauvage', etc. In fact I have all of them on VHS. I do have one suggestion. C'est dommage! The only French film in the Amazon.com DVD Collection has no French closed captions. Anyone who has learned English as a second language in the US in recent years will tell you how helpful closed captions on TV has been as a learning tool. Teachers of French would love to see this be routinely adopted as an industry standard. My fear is that the movie industry will pass up a unique opportunity to participate in public learning of foreign languages. (By the way, isn't it actually against the law in Canada not to include the French?)
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Summary: one good flick
Review: totally amazing - if you haven't seen this film you don't know how good movies can be
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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST ACHEIVEMENTS IN CINEMATIC HISTORY
Review: A masterpiece from one of the greatest directors in film history. TRUFFAUT takes us into the life of "Antoine Doniel". a perisian youth, who turns to crime in reaction to his selfish neglectful parents. We are transformed into his struggles with himself and the world around him. I RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY TO FANS OF GREAT CINEMATIC MOVIES.
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Summary: Great film
Review: Luckily I was able to get the Criterion disc just before it was discontinued. As for that disc, I was very pleased with what I got. I found the image very clear and I love how I can actually read the digital subtitles. I liked the idea of the commentaries, one in English and one in French, although my french is not up to par, but I think they're both close enough to each other. The thing I love baout this film mostly is how the simple story of the life of a particular boy can be so exciting and never boring.
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Summary: Caveat Emptor!
Review: I felt I had to give warning about this particular DVD and so hence the 1 star. What's wrong with it, you may ask? Nothing, except for the fact that the menus do not work. There's supposed to be lots of bonus material on the Fox/Lorber edition, but I cannot access the scene selection screen, let alone the trailers or audio commentary. Perhaps only my particular player has this problem (Toshiba SD2109) but the whole point of DVD was to have a standard that worked uniformly across all hardware platforms! I guess I should be glad that the English subtitles are automatically on so that I can at least watch the film. But having this crippled DVD in my collection is somehow worse than not owning it at all.
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Summary: Greatest foreign film I have ever seen!!!!!!
Review: This is the first in the series of five. I have seen the first three and this one is still my favorite. I don't want to give it away but if you like serious, depressing movies this one is for you. The other two I have seen (the short "Love at Twenty" and the feature "Stolen Kisses") are much more light hearted and funny. I also reccomend those.
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Summary: Semi-autobiographical account of Truffaut's childhood.
Review: Featuring a startlingly natural performance from a young Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine Doinel, this is a vital, hard-nosed, witty, quirky film that stays in the heart and mind of the viewer long after that famous freeze frame at the end has vanished from the screen. Unmissable.
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Summary: An excellent none-too-heavy depiction of universal childhood
Review: One thing that struck me the first time I saw this film was the complex development of Antoine's parents; they were portrayed as convincing, three-dimensional characters rather than the typical evil-Fascist-bourgeoisie couple who unrelentingly oppress their child. These were real people who didn't fit the Square Adult Minor-Character mold; these were Grown-Ups in whom we could find bits and pieces of our own parents. Even so, the film sympathizes remarkably with Antoine; he, too, is well-developed, especially considering his age. (Seldom are younger characters so meticulously created anymore, it seems.) The subtle and gentle approach which we take into his life allows us to feel as though we are being anything but intrusive as we follow his childhood up through the classic ending in the water. (Also, cinematographically speaking, that final scene is beautiful, as is that in which the boys run along the sidewalks with their teacher, gradually leaving the lines in search of their own ends.) ...I could tell a family anecdote about "Truffowt" and my pretentious aspiring-elitist uncle, but I shall refrain...
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