Amazon.com Essentials:
Critic Pauline Kael neatly summed up the timeless appeal of
François Truffaut's 1976 film by calling it "that rarity--a
poetic comedy that's really funny." In other words, Truffaut's
brilliant, upbeat study of resilient children in a French village is
both artistically satisfying and joyously entertaining, proving yet
again (after his acclaimed debut film The 400 Blows)
that few directors remembered and understood the experience of
childhood as clearly as Truffaut. The film's episodic structure
reveals its young characters gradually, leaving them and returning to
them as their individual stories unfold. Most of the sketches are
hilarious (as when a little girl uses a megaphone to announce that
she's been "abandoned," resulting in generous gifts of food from her
surrounding neighbors), but there's also a story about a boy with
abusive parents who learns to survive by his own
ingenuity. Throughout, this remarkable film gets all the details
precisely right, featuring a youthful cast of kids who don't seem to
be acting at all. It's as if Truffaut had somehow gained privileged
entrance into their world, and they carried on as if the camera simply
wasn't there. (Another French film, Ponette, would
achieve a similar, more heartbreaking feat two decades later.)
--Jeff Shannon
