Graduate First

kinotopia

Pialat captures sincerity and the human experience in a way that's to be cherished.

Francisco R.

Even if the events seem minor, Pialat always treats us as social beings willing to inquire, read between the lines and ultimately interact with the characters onscreen in order to follow the narration. Don't expect the man to feed you on a silver platter. Also, here are some of Pialat's funniest sequences.

Gylfi

Pialat's wonderful L'Enfance nue was about a difficult childhood and the lack of security, the sadness and bitterness experienced by it's main character, a young boy who has been abandoned by his mother. This time Pialat turns to that fragile and very complicated period of late teens/early adulthood and all the uncertainties, challenges and excitements that follow. It's a truly gifted director who's at work here!

Matthew Martens

The 1979 model of the Western-world teenager was the first one that, as a seven year-old city-to-suburb transplant just landed on Long Island, I ever really noticed--which is to say, desperately wanted to BE. My babysitters and my friends' older siblings all looked just about exactly like Pialat's blank, bruised, beautiful ditherers, depicted here with pith, pity and generosity. Every generation is lost, oh la la.

http://letterboxd.com/James_

"High Windows" translated to cinema. Somewhat of a precursor to the perilous maneuverings of Police, Pialat's youths lie and fuck and squander one another. They're all going down the long slide like free bloody birds [to happiness], and it's all just as familiar and out of reach as in Larkin's poem. Pialat has a go at those damn kids, but somewhere along the way the fist-shaking gets aimed at the deep blue air…

KiNo

What’s depressing about this film is that there are millions of people who live like that, a purpose simply bypasses their existence. Well captured by the master.

Superfrog

A little long and dispersed. Was it really this easy to get laid in the 70s? The view on the pointlessness of life is interesting though. I love the other commenter who think they really have something better than that. Not sure what the libidinous philosophy teacher character adds to the mix...

FISCHER

Une excellente réalisation / tranche de vie, proche de l'impitoyable documentaire, filmée avec une extrême lucidité par Maurice Pialat dont la sobriété et l'efficacité "démonstrative" sont ici fort bienvenues... www.cinefiches.com