Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

GazerRise Fantastic!

antcol8 This film is actually quite bad. But that really isn't so important. It's also fascinating, and that's much more important. The whole concept of Misreading, as it has been developed by Harold Bloom, is really important to me, and this film is like a certain kind of textbook. If you have a big American car in a French film, that means one thing. If you have a couple of French guys driving a big American car in New York, the meaning is totally different. Now, of course, we can take this line of inquiry to some absurd places: if an American director would have directed French actors in a French film, shot in New York (driving a big American car)...But, anyway - so much post - Breathless French style is derived from American style. But a lot of American style is derived from misreadings of French misreadings of American style - have you seen Jarmusch's The Limits of Control? Impossible without Melville...What else should I talk about? The Jazz? Solal's Jazz in Breathless. Perfection. Here? Not really. Again, it's French Jazz, and doesn't really fit NY perfectly. But that's OK - maybe if it was worse, it would be better, like the Jazz in Auf Wiedersehen, Franziska! In any case, I really want to collate scenes from movies from the late '50s and note how many times certain things reoccur - little portable record players with records strewn all over the floor, cool scenes of cigarettes being lit, gas stations - the scene in the recording studio so much like the one in Masculin/Feminin. What would we get out of such lists? Something...something about zeitgeist. Something about transmission. Something about cross - pollination and its relationship to influence, something about modern myths.So if the experience of making this film helped him to know what to do and what not to do in his later masterpieces, then, you know what? It's a beautiful thing. Godard once famously said "It's not blood, it's red". Melville found out some kind of similar thing about the difference between America and...American - isms? Something like that.

colaya This is a road movie. We travel with two men through New York's nightlife in one night (hence the title of the film). The stops are Broadway performers, recording studios, burlesque dancers, brothels, iconic places such as Time Square, the UN building, Rockefeller Center, etc. and along the way we breathe the atmosphere, a jazz trumpet, the neon lights, hot dogs, shadows and dark alleys. The pretext for this ride (in this case the "plot": an investigation of a UN delegate disappearance and some dilemmas of yellow journalism) is just a pretext, as in any good journey. Recommended for road movie fans, New Wave connoisseurs, New Yorkers, jazz lovers, nightlife owls and noir-ish buffs.

Bob Taylor Melville keeps the story going pretty well, but this is a weak film compared to his best efforts. Shot partly on location in New York, and also in a Paris studio, with many of the supporting players having had to learn their parts phonetically (Monique Hennessy is particularly clumsy with her lines), this is a noir that shows its low budget and lack of inspiration in places. The attempt to find the missing diplomat ends in a woman's apartment. We get a five minute speech from the two reporters's boss about how great Fevre-Berthier was, it's a dull scene.If you are looking for a noir with verve and great music, why not try Ascenseur pour l'echafaud, with REAL actors and Miles Davis's great score.

jimisalo The main character in this film is Manhattan, as imagined and idolized by Melville. This impression is strengthened by the mostly unknown cast and the director himself playing the male lead. The rudimentary plot is mostly an excuse for Melville to feast on his favorite scenes and images: shiny cars driving through nocturnal city streets, neon signs and all-night bars, sultry women and smoky jazz music. The emotional tension of the film comes from the familiar Melville treatment of men's code of honor and loyalty tested by their weakness, here mostly the temptation of women, money and whiskey. Recommended for fans of Melville and stylish noir films.