Review of Small Change (1976) by Daniel K — 29 Jun 2009

4: Wow. Truffaut certainly knows how to work with children. I can't think of another picture, except perhaps his own 400 Blows, in which the children appear so natural and brilliant. It's seems almost like watching a documentary at times.

Every performance seems to be everything but and is ridiculously watchable, entertaining, and moving. The various kids and their stories force the viewer to run the whole gamut of emotions. And the adults may be even better.

This could very well be a perfectly cast film. Some of the scenes are almost impossibly hilarious (i.e. the little girl using the blow horn out of her window and the baby falling out the high rise apartment window and bouncing, etc).

Every scene seems true to life and to have been rendered on screen completely faithfully according to Truffaut's childhood. He seems silent and absent behind the camera as well. He doesn't force his personality onto the screen, despite the fact that each and every scene is recognizably his own, but simply steps back and tells a brilliant story.

The punctuation of various stories with his very own freeze frame works admirably as well. I am very sorry he isn't still working like so many of his contemporaries (Godard, Agnes Varda, Resnais, Chabrol, etc).

He may be growing into my favorite of the nouvelle vague. I started with Godard, will always love Resnais, and may now be gravitating towards Truffaut. I need to watch the Antoine Doinel cycle again. I feel like Truffaut's work is about the only directors one can legitimately compare the Seven Up! series to.

They seem a bit like kindred cinematic spirits.