French New Wave Cinema 1950s - 1960s

Modernist film is very much like in some ways modernist art by way of saying it focuses on only doing films which are non-fiction, nothing fictional or fantastical made its way into the films of this era. One such modernist film maker: Andre Bazin believed all film should be about real life and events that happen every day. This was eve taken to the extreme by having longer takes and fragmented editing to further make it as real as the Auteur can.
             What Bazin says is a bit extreme but films like this or scenes like this have been very good in the past. Such as Reservoir Dogs' opening scene is shown in a coffee shop with the main characters just talking. This is one of the best scenes in a film and Tarantino captures the beauty in conversation so well on film.
     Agnes Varda started the wave with La Pointe Courte which was about a couple living in a small fishing town working through their relationship. This small summary of La Pointe Courte is a shining example of the French New Wave. The simplistic style, setting and story are all what Andre Bazin thought film should be as well as her film be vey modernistic anyway.

Varda also scrapped the track and dolly for her films and used a camera mounted on to a car bonnet.The one above is obviously not the one she used but you can see how far that simple idea has come by looking at the image above. 

        Prohibition and mafia themed films were also very popular at the time. One such FNW inspired film is Mickey One where a night club comedian goes on the run from the mob directed by Arthur Penn.