Breathless

Set during the Algerian War, Le Petit Soldat follows Bruno Forestier, a disillusioned young deserter who becomes involved in the French nationalist movement. He is ordered to kill an Algerian sympathizer, and although he does not hold deep political beliefs, commits the murder and undergoes torture when captured. At the same time, he meets and falls in love with a woman (Anna Karina in her film debut) who he does not know is fighting for the other side. Godard's controversial follow-up to Breathless, Le Petit Soldat was originally banned from release in France because it refers to the use of torture on both sides, during Algeria's struggle for independence.

After hiding out in Milan for nearly a decade, fugitive gangland chief Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) sneaks back to Paris with his children despite a death sentence hanging over his head. Accompanied by appointed guardian Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo, fresh off his star turn in Breathless) and beset by backstabbing former friends, Abel begins a journey through the postwar Parisian underworld that’s both throat grabbing and soul searching. A character study of a career criminal at the end of his rope, this rugged noir from Claude Sautet (Un coeur en hiver) is a thrilling highlight of sixties French cinema.

Young English girl Nikky and her aunt arrive at the Moon-Spinners, a hotel on Crete, to a less than enthusiastic welcome. The coolness of the owner is only out-done by the surliness of her brother Stratos, recently back from London. But then there is nice English lad Mark to make friends with, at least until Stratos and his pal take a shot at him one night. When Nikky helps him hide she finds the Greeks are after her too.

CHUNGKING EXPRESS, cult filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai's hugely influential breakthrough, is a supremely stylish combination of love story and thriller, set in and around Hong Kong's infamous Chungking Mansions, a vast complex of shabby hostels, bars and clubs. The film tells the stories of two lovelorn cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung) and the woman with whom they become involved: a mysterious drug dealer dressed in a blonde wig and sunglasses (Brigitte Lin), and an impulsive young dreamer (Faye Wong). Featuring a charismatic cast, cool pop soundtrack and stunning photography by Christopher Doyle, CHUNGKING EXPRESS is an unconventional and dazzlingly original modern day noir.

Two restless young men (Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur) enlist the object of their desire (Anna Karina) to help them commit a robbery––in her own home. French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard takes to the streets of Paris to re-imagine the gangster genre, spinning an audacious yarn that’s at once sentimental and insouciant, romantic and melancholy.

Franz (Fassbinder) refuses to join a mob-type organization and insists on going it alone as a petty thief. His hooker girlfriend (Hanna Schygulla) and pal Bruno (Ulli Lommel), who mysteriously and erotically enters their lives, then hit the road, quietly offing anyone in their way while planning a bank robbery.

Individualistic and idealistic architect Howard Roark is expelled from college because his designs fail to fit with existing architectural thinking. He seems unemployable but finally lands a job with like-minded Henry Cameron, however within a few years Cameron drinks himself to death, warning Roark that the same fate awaits unless he compromises his ideals. Roark is determined to retain his artistic integrity at all costs.

Although Hollywood is finally breaking new ground it doesn't make films like this anymore… and aside from The Fountainhead, truly never did. Looking back today, I found it such a refreshing and unique change. — Gary W. Tooze, DVD Beaver

King Vidor réalise avec "Le Rebelle" (The Fountainhead) le film le plus emblématique de ses préoccupations de cinéaste. — Olivier Bitoun, DVD Classik

The definitive New York movie, and one of the few to successfully integrate rock music into the structure of film: watch Keitel waking to the sound of the Ronettes, or De Niro dancing solo in the street to 'Mickey's Monkey'. Mean Streets is also pure Italian-American. Charlie (Keitel), a punk on the fringes of 'respectable' organised crime, ponders his adolescent confusions and loyalties. Beneath the swagger, he's embarrassed by his work, his religion, and by women and his friends, particularly Johnny Boy (De Niro), who owes everyone money. Scorsese directs with a breathless, head-on energy which infuses the performances, the sharp fast talk, the noise, neon and violence with a charge of adrenalin. One of the best American films of this decade.

Demi-tarif est un film écrit et réalisé par Isild Le Besco et sorti en 2003. Isild Le Besco avait 16 ans quand elle a écrit le scénario. DEMI TARIF relate la vie d' une fratrie de 3 enfants vivant seuls dans un appartement. La voix émouvante de la réalisatrice accompagne les gamins dans leur univers poétique. Trois têtes dans un seul corps. La presse voit en ce film la nouvelle Nouvelle Vague et salue une mise en scène âpre et sans artifice et une direction d'acteurs exceptionnelle. Isild Le Besco a créé un dispositif pour faire jouer les enfants avec le plus grand naturel à tel point que certains spectateurs croient à un reportage et s'indignent de l'abandon infligé aux enfants! Plusieurs producteurs lui proposent de produire le film à condition qu'un réalisateur confirmé prenne ce scénario mais Isild, qui tient à réaliser elle-même ce film très personnel, refuse et tient bon jusqu'à ce qu'elle obtienne son propre financement.