Nouvelle Vague

The spirit of cinematic revolution is alive and well in Richard Linklater’s affectionate and wildly entertaining passion project, which transports the viewer back to a creative landmark: the 1959 making of Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS. Godard desires to make his own mark as a filmmaker, envious of the big-screen success of his fellow Cahiers du cinéma critics François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol. Working from—if only gesturing to—Truffaut’s noir-inspired script treatment, Godard embarks on his runaway production on the streets of Paris, determined to make a work of intellectual honesty and moral integrity, while fending off the frustrations of producer Georges de Beauregard, playfully sparring with star Jean-Paul Belmondo, and ignoring the bemused protestations of leading lady Jean Seberg. Shot on film in black-and-white and edited with a restless elegance that echoes the Nouvelle Vague ethos that BREATHLESS all but created, Linklater’s film is a buoyant expression of the importance of artistic freedom and ingenuity from one of contemporary American cinema’s true independent souls. —New York Film Festival

ONE SHOW ONLY! Wednesday, January 21 @ 8PM in Avalon 1