Francois Truffaut in conversation in 1977 with Richard Roud, then Director of the New York Film Festival. Truffaut, director of “Jules and Jim,” “The Four Hundred Blows, etc. was in America for the premier of “The Man Who Loved Women” at the 15th NYFF. The film director speaks of his childhood, the moral challenge of World War Two, the real meaning of the “auteur theory”, how the conservative French film industry was forced to change, Truffaut as a “culture hero” in the US, making a film that is as personal as a novel, the difference between French and American approaches to cinema, and many other themes.
rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films Posts
America’s great film director-actor Buster Keaton, discussed by film critic Andrew Sarris and Raymond Rohauer, cinema historian, with some unusual perspectives on his goals and motivations. Illustrated with many film excerpts from 1917 to 1928. Rohauer knew Keaton and was partly responsible from rescuing many of his old films from destruction. Sarris is a leading film critic who has often written about Keaton. Excerpts include portions of “The General”, “Cops”, “Frozen North”, “The Boat”, “Sherlock, Jr.” and others. Rohauer also describes rescuing Keaton’s films from a garage and talking with Keaton at the end of his life when he had been forgotten.
A story from Victoria, British Columbia, of one young man who, despite a crippling malady, is determined to experience as many of life’s offerings as possible. Brian Wilson is spastic, confined to a wheelchair, but he works at a job, looks after himself, and moves about from place to place on his own. Every day has its challenges and victories, and sometimes defeats. With this example of personal courage, the film provides insight into the private and daily struggle of the disabled.
In this lightweight made-for-television domestic comedy, a beautiful divorcee, who got the house and the kids, finds herself allowing her husband and his ditzy young fiancee to stay with them after he gets into financial dire straits.
The Days follows the life of Dong and Chun, married artists who have recently graduated from the Beijing Art Institute. Living meagerly in the hope of making enough money off their works, it soon becomes obvious to everyone but themselves that the marriage has begun to die.
A comedy about a thirty-something man, named Victor who is to perform in a town, after having left group therapy. Victor cleverly bases his diatribes on the handful of locals who attend his performance. As his monologue coils out, his stories accurately reflect the audience’s own lives, offering glimpses of themselves which irrevocably shift their relationship with each other.
A metaphysical mystery based on the novel by Leonardo Sciascia, Todo modo is the most curious and puzzling of Petri’s films and offers a not-so-veiled critique of Christian Democratic political power. Italy’s most successful politicians go on a monastic retreat at the convent of Don Gaetano to contemplate their notable careers and secretly devise a new power structure. After a series of mysterious crimes, the consortium becomes divided and, ultimately, depleted. The film’s unabashed leftist politics are given vivid articulation through the work of noted production designer Dante Ferretti.
In this short film from Yugoslavia, a boy wanders the city alone on a hot summer’s day. More and more unnerved by his own shadow, he attempts to escape it, but ends up finding a new friend instead. Grounded in the architecture and infrastructure of the city, the film turns into a literal flight of fantasy.