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French cinema is great. In fact, New Wave French cinema is even better than regular French cinema. Maybe it has to do with the care free attitude that most of these films have? There will usually be a dashing, but somewhat troubled young man usually played by (new wave favorite) Jean-Paul Belmundo and the female lead would be Anna Karina. This of course, is a generalization, but those two actors, along with celebrated directors like: Franois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard were the pinnacle of the French New Wave.Additional information can be found at http://www.spinner.com/2011/07/15/pursesnatchers-wet-cement-video/.

The French New Wave was also a form of expressionism without consciously expressing anything. A couple could be sitting outside of a French cafe having a coffee and smoking a cigarette while conversing about something quite mundane. Of course, the conversation would have probably been preceded by a long tracking shot of the building or the street where the couple was sitting by. Extras may have, on occasion, sneaked into frame or made eye contact with the camera, but it was paid no mind. The camera just kept rolling.

The French New Wave started in the late fifties into the late sixties. By the late sixties into the early seventies American directors had begun to already cite the New Wave of French cinema as an influence, and Bob Rafelson along with Jack Nicholson began collaborating on projects some would say were part of the American New Wave of cinema. Popular directors of today like Quentin Tarantino have also been influenced by French New Wave cinema. Tarantino has cited Jean-Luc Godard as an influence going so far as to dedicate Reservoir Dogs and naming his production company after one of Godard’s films.

French New Wave cinema may not exist as it once did, but its effect on cinema in general cannot be denied. It has transcended down through the decades into the cinema of today.