Day for Night
|
Our Price: $23.78 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $7.95 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Day for Night
Movie Review: Are Women Magic? Truffaut's films are!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the question Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Leaud) keeps asking all the male characters in the film, trying to find the meaning of women, as he hopes to figure out his own relationship with the script-girl, who has just been found kissing the movie's stills guy. Ahhh, but then he finds the luscious Jacqueline Bisset, who is at odds and struggling with her own relationship with a wealthy older American. While this movie is about making movies, it still revisists Truffaut's main theme in most of his films: the relationships between men and women.
A brilliant movie by a brilliant director (the best, actually). The opening one minute tracking shot of the "movie within the movie" emptiomizes Truffaut's own unique style: a bus zooms by as we seemingly focus on the main character? A woman dressed in red walking a busy street? No.... an elderly couple walking their dog? No... Jean-Pierre Leaud coming up the steps of a subway stop? No... a red convertible pulling up and parking? Still no... but alas, after nearly one full minute of the camera looping around this busy Parisian street, we finally land on the intended main character of the scene, Jean-Pierre Aumont, as he gets slapped by an approaching Jean-Pierre Leaud. This opening sequence sets the tone for a truly original film about film.
I love the camera style of Truffaut, where either at the beginning of a scene, or in most cases after it, he will pan off of the main characters or action, and sneakingly dwell on some other non-significant character or scenery.
Even though we don't make movies like they used to in 1972, this is still a fascinating look into the movie making world of the time, with all it's facets, responsiblities, and relationships. Very humorous at times, it is a true pleasure to sit back and enjoy this Oscar winning film, from a director who is unequaled in the history of films.
Movie Review: WARNING
Summary: 5 Stars
Despite the image in the listing clearly depicting the newer Warner Home Video re-issue in a Keep Case packaging, I purchased this last week and was sent what was obviously leftover stock of the old Snap Case version!
I am waiting for a replacement to arrive in the mail but I wouldn't be surprised if they sent em the exact same thing and I have the same problem again as the customer service rep that I spoke with on the phone did not seem to understand a word I said and was not particularly fluent in English nor did she seem to know very much about the products her company was selling (ie. DVD's).
So don't order this DVD expecting any sort of assurance that you will be getting the reissued packaging just because of the image in the listing. I paid more than I would've at other online retailers based on this and I hope it's sorted out soon. If I purchase something from a company based on what I see listed on their website and they send me something else, that is considered false advertising. Even if it wasn't intentional. So if you are reading this AMAZON, please stop mailing out old stock and send the Snap Cases back to Warner Bros. Otherwise, change the picture in the listing to reflect what people are actually paying for!
I could have bought the same DVD at my local retailer for half the cost had I known it was just the old packaging. The reason I ordered is because I want the KEEP CASE re-issue. Please correct this with the exchange you are sending me!
Thank you.
PS: The stars rating is obviously based on the film itself and not Amazon's screw-up.
UPDATE: Apparently the Keep Case version is ONLY available in the "International Cinema Collection". Not on it's own! AMAZON should really update the product image as it is False Advertising!
Movie Review: fantastic film........one of Truffaut's best.....
Summary: 5 Stars
For those of you who haven't seen any films by the late, great French director, Francois Truffaut, Day For Night (French title: La Nuit Americaine) is a great introduction. This actually won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and it is evident why. Day For Night is really a valentine to Francois Truffaut's love affair with cinema. This is a great and intriguing story (a sort of film within a film approach). Ferrand (played by Truffaut) is the hardworking film director, trying to line all of his ducks in a row, to film and complete his movie, "Je Vous Presente Pamela." As is often the case, nothing is going quite as was planned. For starters, his beautiful lead, Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), is recovering from a breakdown. Her co-star (Jean Pierre Leaud) is completely unreliable, and Severine (Valentina Cortese), an aging actress, is hitting the bottle pretty hard during the filming of their picture. What's more, all sorts of other intrigues are taking place between members of the crew (romantic and otherwise).
I love this shot because it almost seems like a pseudo-documentary, as well as a loving tribute to the blood, sweat and tears that go into making a film. How great that Truffaut got in front of the camera for this piece. He really should have done it more often. This film is equally funny and touching and I highly reccomend it.
Movie Review: If your French is poor, be ready to read a lot!
Summary: 5 Stars
As the film began, I was annoyed (because I'm not a great fan of Truffault). By the end I was in grateful tears. A truly inspiring film about making art. In it, Truffault rightly predicts the future of filmmaking -- that films would be made on the streets, independent of Hollywood.Like any Truffault film, one must be in the mood to enjoy intellectual banter and slow development to get to the heart of it. This was very Altman-esque, with lots of activity and talk at once making the subtitles difficult to follow. Yet once I resolved myself to sitting close enough to read constantly, I was completely taken up with the beauty. Truffault brilliantly illustrates the experience of being an artist in a medium that requires so many tedious details to be taken care of. The actors are superb and the characters are developed brilliantly, beginning the film as the caricatures that they present to strangers, and becoming more developed as they get to know one another. The music was also a suprise, as instead of using it as background filler or to create suspense, he brings in distinct themes at certain parts to draw one into greater understanding. Long live the DVD format -- watching the accompanying interviews was a great learning experience.
Movie Review: Great movie about how to make a movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful love letter to the movies from Francois Truffaut who not only directs but also delivers a terrific performance as a movie director. Truffaut's character is directing what seems to be a fairly banal love triangle story. The very first scene is magical. We see a Paris street with a cafe, a square, people walking their dogs, chatting, cars driving by -- the camera picks up a couple of the characters and you wonder who the film will be about. Then someone shouts "cut" and we realize that this is a movie scene in which every tiny detail has been orchestrated. They play the scene again, but this time we hear the director's instructions and see the cameras moving around.
The director has to manage all kinds of personal dramas on his set -- the aging actress soused on wine who can no longer remember her lines, the spoiled male lead who is so childish and narcissistic as to be absurd, the fragile English star (played by Bisset) with the older husband -- and the lesser characters -- the stage hands, personal aides, the director, the stuntman -- each with their own little stories.
This is a mesmerizing glimpse of how movies get made by one of the true masters of the genre.