this special film understands children. 'children have grace' as one mom said. it deals with the frustrations and the joyful moments, spontaneously. but the coup de grâce, for me, is that it incites ours childhood memories, pains and joys. we see ourselves, children we knew in school or the neighborhood. it is very intimate and magical in a lot of moments
A school year presented in this small but engaging work. Kids being themselves. Small stories; some a little fey others quite enthralling. Lesser Truffaut to be honest but certainly has its fans.
There's absolutely nothing patronizing in this film. It's not in Truffaut's nature. All I saw were kids being kids.
This is by far my favourite Truffaut. I hope new print=new dvd transfer down the line.
New print of this playing in NYC, can't wait to see it! Village Voice has a good piece on the film: http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-24/film/small-change-at-ifc-a-winter-portrait-at-alliance-fran-aise