Francois Truffaut, Brilliant Director Who Gave You the Award Winning "The 400 Blows", Now Brings to the Screen a Fascinating New Work That Plays in Many Keys...All of Them Delightful!
Francois Truffaut, Brilliant Director Who Gave You the Award Winning ...
Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.
It is a teasing and frequently amusing (or moving) film that M. Truffaut has made, but it simply does not hang together.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
Often overlooked, Truffaut's wonderful second film stars Charles Aznavour, master of the chanson, in his only collaboration with the director.
– Melissa Anderson,
Time Out New York,
4 Sep 2008
fresh:
Truffaut's form of self-reflection is ultimately a way of playing the audience.
– J. Hoberman,
Village Voice,
4 Sep 2008
fresh:
The determined jollity of Georges Delerue's saloon piano score, which later opens up to encompass a wide world of romanticism, sets the tone for Francois Truffaut's audacious second feature, made in 1960.