Seriously, though I have never seen the movie (although I have read the book), and I was planning on watching it because it is leaving Netflix instantwatch soon, but I am not sure I can handle the Jack Nicholson.

It's expiring today, which is why I'm watching it.

I'm not exactly a Jack fan, but I love the movie. It's more Chinatown Jack than redrum Jack which has infected nearly all of his acting since.

I also think, generally speaking, it is a faithful adaptation of the book.

Good movie, yeah, but I'm not sure I took away from it what they meant me to.

It's been a long time since I saw Cuckoo's Nest, so the version of it that sticks in my head is the homage/parody from Spaced.

I took "Chief" away from it, but I was deep into basketball at the time.

I just watched Dazed and Confused, and I liked it more than Fast Times at Ridgemont High, even though they're both movies about teenagers just...doing stuff. I guess I like the way Linklater films teenagers just...doing stuff.

The Amazon.com review described it as Fast Times at Ridgemont High as directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and now I wonder if I would actually like Godard. I have assumed the French New Wave would bore me to tears. Just...because. Wait, it's because I hated The 400 Blows. Was that French New Wave? Because bleh. The plot of Breathless sounds interesting, so I stuck it in my Instant Queue, but I'm afraid.

and now I wonder if I would actually like Godard. I have assumed the French New Wave would bore me to tears.

::cries at P-Cow's tears::

Just...because. Wait, it's because I hated The 400 Blows. Was that French New Wave?

Yes, it is. Smack in the heart of the canon. But each director of the French New Wave is quite different. And even with Truffaut there are other movies which would probably appeal to you more.

The plot of Breathless sounds interesting, so I stuck it in my Instant Queue, but I'm afraid.

The plot of Breathless is not really the point of the movie. It is basically the punk rock gesture of film, a revolution of style to overturn another generation's stylistic notions. It is a very low budget movie by a director who loves movie history, who references older movies, about characters who are each, somewhat self-consciously, acting out movie roles. Which ends tragically, as you might imagine.

Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese and Wong Kar Wai stole huge amounts of their style from Godard.

I don't know if Breathless will mean that much to you. But you'd probably enjoy Band of Outsiders or something like A Woman Is A Woman because even though nobody's been more copied than Godard, his stylistic innovations are still incredibly original and fresh.

But each director of the French New Wave is quite different.

Definitely this. They get lumped together but Truffaut is much more traditional than Godard, narratively and stylistically. And Les 400 coups is different from even the rest of Truffaut work, so I wouldn't judge just on that. I would still start with Breathless though.

Speaking of postwar French cinema, I just got back from my Orphée thing and was not axe-murdered! And I met a lot fellow bloggers who were super sweet. It was hilarious because all the people connected to the opera wanted to make sure they chatted with them. I felt very in-the-know!