The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups)

It's a film of two halves for me but I will run with the negative part first so I can end on a lighter note.

In terms of narrative, i felt that plotlines and characters were underdeveloped. With the exception of Antoine, every character could be summed up in three words or less - his mother is only ever a conniving scumbag, his father alternately overly cheery and a bastard, his teacher just the second of those. Antoine himself is clearly in a bad situation, and his choices less his own and more based on reactions to events previously - for example, writing on the wall after his teacher punishes him (somewhat) unfairly. However, we never see another side to the characters. His mother never displays any quality worth marrying her for, a fact made more severe when you realise she already had a son. His father just seems to be the step-dad out of water stereotype that you can see anywhere. It is impossible to sympathise with the teacher and his aggression towards Antoine is never explained. I like my characters to have reasons and motives and a distant glimpse of redemption. (Note: This is exclusively for heavily character based films. I don't expect to empathise with a Die Hard villan, because I watch those films to see things explode a lot)

Without a doubt there are comparative themes with La Haine. The Paris setting, the downtrodden protaganist, and the inescapability of their situation are definitely paralell and make me very glad I didn't grow up in France (aside from hating the language!)

On the positive side, the cinematography and direction was revolutionary, and it stands apart from the other films of it's era with quite modern techniques for both editing and shots. Very interesting to see.