Timeless Classic
Added 11/2/2009
Truffart's masterpiece, everyone should see this film at least once, mere words fail when describing this gem of a film!
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Affecting Film about Juvenile Delinquency
Added 10/18/2009
A boy in France isn't interested in school and feels alienated by his parents. His world begins to increasingly be surrounded by like minded friends his own age especially one boy who often accompanies him in misbehavior. Based on true story, Francois Truffaut creates a moving portrait of a child on his way through the juvenile legal system including the detention centers and homes. The ending is especially affecting.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Moving and exhilirating
Added 8/26/2009
The movie announced the talent of Francois Truffaut and still makes a powerful impact 50 years later.
We follow the life of Antoine, a 13-year-old Parisian kid with a knack of getting himself into trouble. He's persecuted in turn by his stupid French literature teacher, his adoptive father and his cold, neglectful mother and winds up in a juvenile institution after stealing a typewriter from his father's office, failing to sell it and getting caught trying to return it.
Antoine is basically not a bad kid but each petty lie and immature stunt gets him deeper and deeper into trouble from a system that seems capable only of punishing and never of understanding him.
We learn that Antoine's mother never wanted him and sees him as a nuisance and a burden; that his adoptive father has no real investment in his success and that the authority figures he meets are interested only in processing him and never relate to him as a person.
This movie is full of exuberant cinemagraphic moments: the camera swoops up and down like a bird watching a clueless teacher taking his class for exercise and having the kids run off behind his back one by one. Antoine and his friend emerge from the Metro and a flock of pigeons explodes into the air. Antoine spends the night alone, surrounded by the cold, unfeeling statues of the Tuileries Gardens.
One notable aspect: every single adult in this movie is an idiot and most are also casually cruel.
The message of this humanistic film is that children need love to thrive. Without it, they are we are victims.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Truffaut almost before he became Truffaut
Added 7/31/2009
If you are coming late to this pathbreaking film after having seen and enjoyed other Truffaut movies, be forewarned: it's not much like Jules et Jim, or The Bride Wore Black, or even the later Antoine Doinel features. Truffaut spent his childhood watching movies, especially the American studio products turned out by men who became his heroes -- Hawks, Ford, Hitchcock, Ray. In his later films, he unabashedly adapted their styles, combining commercial narrative techniques with his own New Wave sensibility. The result was a type of French cinema that could both entertain and dig deeper than a typical Hollywood vehicle.
In The 400 Blows, his first full-length film, Truffaut opted instead for a documentary style that he felt offered the best chance of telling the truth. (He knew this truth very well, because the story is largely autobiographical.) Elements that typically enhance a studio film and nudge the viewer toward a certain reaction are almost totally absent. The camera "passively" records whatever is taking place, allowing fairly long scenes to unfold in real time. There are few quick cuts or editing that calls attention to itself or to particular lines. The music seems perfunctory, serving more to bridge scenes or otherwise offer continuity (again, in the manner of a documentary) than to prompt emotional responses or underline the psychology of a moment. Dialogue is usually banal, i.e., naturalistic. The characters, even the least sympathetic ones, don't get sorted into heroes or villains. We can sympathize with all of them even as we discern their obvious limitations.
In other words, not a great date movie. Just a courageous first effort by someone who wasn't afraid to translate strong ideas about film into an actual film. I'm glad I finally watched it, although I will probably continue to treasure other Truffaut movies much more.
The Blu-Ray transfer seems superb. Rich variations of black and gray and white. Beautiful visual detail. Wide-screen format, which surprised me, as with Jules et Jim. (Why have I always assumed that the great European film-makers of the 50s and 60s stuck with Academy Ratio?) Technically another great job by Criterion.
Highly recommended, with the implicit caveats noted.
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The 400 Blows - Blu-ray Info
Added 7/5/2009
Version: U.S.A / Criterion / Region A
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / AACS
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running time: 1:40:02
Movie size: 29,136,844,800 bytes
Disc size: 42,025,416,450 bytes
Total bit rate: 38.83 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 34.83 Mbps
LPCM Audio French 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English SDH
Number of chapters: 23
#Audio commentaries
#Rare audition footage (HD - 6m:24s)
#Newsreel footage (HD - 5m:51s)
#Excerpt from a French TV program (HD - 22m:27s)
#Television interview (HD - 6m:51s)
#Theatrical trailer (3m:47s)
#8-page Close to Home booklet with essay
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Timeless Classic
Added 11/2/2009
Truffart's masterpiece, everyone should see this film at least once, mere words fail when describing this gem of a film!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Affecting Film about Juvenile Delinquency
Added 10/18/2009
A boy in France isn't interested in school and feels alienated by his parents. His world begins to increasingly be surrounded by like minded friends his own age especially one boy who often accompanies him in misbehavior. Based on true story, Francois Truffaut creates a moving portrait of a child on his way through the juvenile legal system including the detention centers and homes. The ending is especially affecting.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Moving and exhilirating
Added 8/26/2009
The movie announced the talent of Francois Truffaut and still makes a powerful impact 50 years later.
We follow the life of Antoine, a 13-year-old Parisian kid with a knack of getting himself into trouble. He's persecuted in turn by his stupid French literature teacher, his adoptive father and his cold, neglectful mother and winds up in a juvenile institution after stealing a typewriter from his father's office, failing to sell it and getting caught trying to return it.
Antoine is basically not a bad kid but each petty lie and immature stunt gets him deeper and deeper into trouble from a system that seems capable only of punishing and never of understanding him.
We learn that Antoine's mother never wanted him and sees him as a nuisance and a burden; that his adoptive father has no real investment in his success and that the authority figures he meets are interested only in processing him and never relate to him as a person.
This movie is full of exuberant cinemagraphic moments: the camera swoops up and down like a bird watching a clueless teacher taking his class for exercise and having the kids run off behind his back one by one. Antoine and his friend emerge from the Metro and a flock of pigeons explodes into the air. Antoine spends the night alone, surrounded by the cold, unfeeling statues of the Tuileries Gardens.
One notable aspect: every single adult in this movie is an idiot and most are also casually cruel.
The message of this humanistic film is that children need love to thrive. Without it, they are we are victims.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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