Jules and Jim

“Day for Night,” a much loved, widely awarded, and truly joyous work about the trials and triumphs of making a film and the extraordinary power of motion pictures as objects of affection and obsession.

There is still the same cinematic playfulness, a combination of genuine skill, pervasive influence, and rampant passion for the medium itself, but with The Soft Skin, Truffaut slows things down somewhat, takes a breath, matures.

The French New Wave, that cinematic movement from the 1960s that essentially defined iconoclasm for film, has undoubtedly had its impact on nearly everything, from film to music to style. And given its indelible impact on cultural history, it’s one of the easiest artistic movements to pull from, as demonstrated from three key music videos …

Gloriously composed — visually and aurally — The Young Girls of Rochefort is a lyrically light holiday to this provincial town, with its assortment of pleasant people having their fair share of romantic troubles. Moreover, it’s one of the best musicals the form has ever seen.

“Though dealing with adults and serious adult situations, ‘Jules and Jim’ exhibits a formal sense of unbridled glee, with brisk editing, amusing asides, and a sinuously mobile camera. It is alive like few films are.”