Posted by Solomon on 6/14/2019, 4:54 am
Smoothly done noir/neo-realism/poetic realism done by Marcel Carné. Something like a JD movie (of the American rock and roll, cool talk type) but more sophisticated and realistic, more tragic.
At times, the movie looks very noir. There are a few times when it looks like neo-realism, especially the shots of the wasteland that comprises the projects and surroundings where the kids (teenagers) live. These landscapes also double as noir. And there are a few times when the sets and pans are poetic realism style of old. The studio-bound feeling is mitigated. The story has its fatalistic side but also a hopeful side; different characters go to different destinies.
There's poetic realism here: "Poetic realism films are 'recreated realism', stylised and studio-bound, rather than approaching the 'socio-realism of the documentary'. They usually have a fatalistic view of life with their characters living on the margins of society, either as unemployed members of the working class or as criminals. After a life of disappointment, the characters get a last chance at love but are ultimately disappointed again and the films frequently end with disillusionment or death."
Whatever it's classed as, it's a good well-done film with meaning, a decent story, quite gripping. It's not really out of date, except that told today the surface details would be very different. There'd be drugs, more disillusionment, more sex, more nihilism, louder and insistent music of hip-hop, more weird clothes and makeup, etc. These surface matters would tend to swamp the emotional content. And I expect told today, the whole movie would be more of a jumble. The actors would mumble and speak too low. They'd look more vacant.
The movie uses its interesting settings in interesting ways. One is the stairs leading to the upper floors of the tenement. Another is the ruined building where the teens meet in their gang. The gang is very well-depicted. There's also a second-hand store, a garage, a dime store, the city streets contrasted with the isolated apartment buildings or projects.
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