5. Day For Night (Francois Truffaut)
An important figure in the French New Wave, Francois Truffaut was an important film critic (writing for influential French magazine Cahiers du Cinema and originating the "auteur theory") as well as an excellent director. Like Orson Welles, Truffaut is probably known best for his first film: The 400 Blows (which became the first part of his Antoine Doinel series that includes Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run). Other films in his oeuvre include Jules et Jim, the adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, and The Story of Adele H. Less of an overtly political filmmaker as his New Wave contemporary and later foe Jean-Luc Godard, many of Truffaut's films have a light, comedic quality even when dealing with serious issues. The plot of The 400 Blows, a child with negligent and selfish parents rebels by breaking the law which leads to his adoptive father disowning him, could have been material for a brutal melodrama but Truffaut balances the melancholic narrative with so many humorous asides that the movie feels uplifting despite itself. This is not to say that Truffaut's films lack definition in tone, rather that he creates a tone all of his own. Day For Night, in the style of French New Wave cinema, self-reflexively depicts the process of making a film. Truffaut acts in the film as its put-upon director, essentially directing the film and the film within the film. The narrative switches perspective several times throughout the film, from Truffaut's character Ferrand who wants to make a great movie but keeps getting bogged down by the realities of studio filmmaking, a famous British actress named Julie played by Jacqueline Bisset, a young and foolish actor thinking of quitting films (as if it were possible) played by Jean-Pierre Leaud, and an older actor who always dies in his films played by Jean-Pierre Aumont. Truffaut shows the audience every trick in the filmmaker's book in the film within the film: candles with light bulbs in the back so the camera can catch them, an aging actress reading the lines off of a paper strategically positioned offscreen, and stories being changed to fit the whims of whiny studios and actors. There might as well be a disclaimer flashing on the bottom of the screen in every scene "WHAT YOU ARE WATCHING ISN'T REAL!" But isn't it fun anyways? Love-triangles, divas, melodrama, and script girls, what else do you need? Day For Night may seem to be an odd choice to include on this list considering that it was critically acclaimed when it was released (it even won Truffaut's only Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1974), but it currently resides in uneasy territory as a film that isn't serious enough to be considered an "art film" and isn't stupid enough to be a broad comedy. But if you love movies it is impossible to make it through Day For Night without smiling from ear to ear, a true love letter to cinema from one of its great admirers.