The 400 Blows, 1959 - ★★★★½

I’d much rather hang with young Antoine Doinel than Holden Caufield. Antoine had much better reasons for his alienation, and handled it with a lot more cool.

The first Truffaut film I saw (unless you count Close Encounters) was the first adventure of Antoine Doinel. I don’t remember loving the film back then. My impression was that it was about a little snot, and nothing more.

30+ years later, half of those as a father, the 400 Blows plays quite differently.

Antoine is a snot. But he’s also curious, literate, fun, and completely aware of the bullshit adults who surround him. Truffaut films him completely at ease in the streets and cinema.

Is he an alienated little shit? Definitely. Have I rooted harder for an escape? Not many other times.

(The new Criterion 4K restoration is absolutely glorious. The grainy print I watched in Professor Jennings film class back in ‘96 had its charms, but this is like watching the first print, opening night in Paris)