Passion project promotes New Wave filming

Rather than worry about pleasing anyone, filmmaker Richard Linklater pays personal tribute to a director who inspired him by ignoring accepted production trends.  Shoot in black and white. Talk in French. Avoid sets. Jean-Luc Godard did that for Breathless, subject of Linklater’s film Nouvelle Vague, which translates to New Wave. As cinephiles know, “New Wave” describes an avant garde movement that upended preconceived notions about making movies. Today’s audiences may not realize it, but much of what they see on screen happens because of visionaries like Godard. But how many viewers care? Good question; while the director’s reputation for Oscar-nominated work like Boyhood got him a budget way beyond the $50,000 Godard raised for Breathless, Linklater’s passion project played theaters minimally before broader release on Netflix this month.  Prestige might flair if France chooses the movie as its foreign language Oscar entry; whatever happens, Nouvelle Vague remains a superbly-made treat for cinephiles, Francophiles, and up-and-coming movie makers needing reassurance that breaking rules can succeed—at least under the right circumstances. As Linklater shows, Godard worked when people took cinema seriously enough to follow and support intellectual magazines analyzing film as art. And while dialogue and shooting during Breathless came off-the-cuff, a solid story and fluid camera work heighten the project. Also, the movie’s stars—Jean Seberg and then little-known Jean-Paul Belmondo—made up for a lot with features that cameras adore. Linklater helps relative newcomers Zoey Deuch and Aubrey Dullin show similar magnetism for a project that rather than break new ground, shines light on a past that many either forgot or never knew about.