Small Change (1976) directed by François Truffaut

A friend of mine recommended this film to me earlier this summer, and I'm so glad I watched it because I really enjoyed it!

If you're not familiar, the film is a series of humorous vignettes starring unprofessional child actors (mostly boys under 13 or 14 years old) and each vignette is seen from their point of view. Critic Roger Ebert named it his #1 film of 1976.

I haven't seen all of Truffaut's films, and I'm not sure if any of his other films are quite like this one. It's so unique. And delightful. I read somewhere that Truffaut had been collecting humorous anecdotes about children for several years, and this was the culmination of his work.

An older blog post from the blog Moon in the Gutter calls the film "one of his finest works" (another post from the same blogger highlights some of the movie's advertising and promotional art -- in most countries outside the US it was called Pocket Money -- I love all of these stills and poster images - they really capture the feel of the movie in my opinion)

I love how the entire film is centered around the beginning of a school season. The school setting ties the movie together in my opinion, since it is essentially plot-less, even though the characters are all interconnected.

Some of the teachers have their own brief vignettes, but there is usually a child involved such the little mischievous two-year old who lives in the same apartment building as one of the teachers. He's a cute boy named Gregory and really made me smile and laugh.

Another character is a neglected boy from an abusive household; he wears the same clothes every day, and carries a worn and dirty satchel. I could relate to this character the most. I remember feeling like a misfit in my own school days, and befriended some, too.

The film also reminded me of feeling embarrassed, awkward, bored, and a little rebellious. In another vignette, two mates give another a questionable haircut. And in another, a young pair experience some romantic attraction for the first time. Almost all of the kids have a little bit of small change - pocket money - on them that they use in various ways.

One of my favorite scenes (though there are many) comes at the beginning of the film, where one child mails a postcard to her cousin. It's so rare nowadays seeing children communicate with each other without a cellphone, and kind of refreshing to see as well.

Recently I stumbled upon an interesting interview here with director Wes Anderson who talked about this movie with the New York Times in 2002; he's a big fan.

Not everyone likes this movie, though.

A recent blog post from The Seventh Art posted an excerpt from the book Luc Moullet’s Piges Choisies (2009) on Truffaut and this film. Moullet is critical of the film, calling it "a series of gems without any connection between them, a collection of interesting scenes that Truffaut couldn’t put in his previous films. It doesn’t work because Truffaut didn’t deploy his master weapon, narration. No principal story, no connecting thread. Like all failures, Small Change is negatively more revelatory of its auteur’s art than his perfect successes." I am not sure I agree; I didn't watch it comparing it with the other director's films.

It was filmed and takes place in Thiers, France. Though I have not been there, the movie reminded me of my trip to France. Some memories and photos are below, if interested.

It was June 2004 when I traveled with a friend on a 12-day trip. 6 days were spent Paris. Of course, one day was devoted to the Louve (though many more could have been). I loved seeing some of the paintings that I studied in school. On other days, we went inside the cathedrals of Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and Saint Chappelle. We rode the Metro to almost everywhere. A photo of me at Notre Dame at right.

There were several Paris museums on my list, including a museum dedicated to medieval art (Cluny museum) and nearby was an ancient Roman area which is now a park. There were so many outdoor markets, and saw so many people carrying baguettes to take home. Also visited an American grocery store where there were food items to buy where you couldn't get anywhere else, such as certain brands of cereal.

Giverny

My friend and I wanted to see more of France, so we scheduled several trips trips out of Paris to fit our schedule. One trip was to the Versailles Palace and gardens which was very impressive. Then we took a train to Giverny to visit the home of Monet and to see his gardens that inspired his paintings. A photo at right.

The second trip was by train up north to Normandy, to visit a few WWII museums and to see the beaches and cemetery. It was the 60th Anniversary that year. We also visited Mont St. Michel, to visit the ancient cathedral and town. The third trip was by train down to Nice, where we visited a museum dedicated to Marc Chagall. We also took a train to Monte Carlo, where we mainly hiked around for the day.

We did not go to Thiers, France, where Small Change takes place. But we may have passed through it on the train to Southern France. Here are some more pictures of my Paris trip if interested. 

Movie showing at the time: Shrek 2

Outside the Louvre

Inside the Louvre

Eiffel Tower

I really loved visiting Paris and France, and hope to have a chance to visit again one day!

Thanks for reading! Be sure to visit The Lady Eve’s Reel Life and Silver Screen Modes as they host the Viva La France! Blogathon on August 25 and 26, 2019.  

Cecil B. DeMille's This Day and Age (1933)

The poster for This Day and Age calls it "The FIRST Great Spectacle of Modern Times", which is interesting because nowadays the film is largely forgotten. It wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards at the time either. But I think the film is one that a modern audience would really find compelling.

The film is about a group of civics-minded high-school students who take the law into their own hands when they track down a gangster nightclub owner named Garrett (played by Charles Bickford) after he kills several of their friends and gets away with it.

The students are played by actors I'm not very familiar with such as Richard Cromwell and Judith Allen. At times I got confused as to who's who due to all of the supporting characters that come and go throughout the film.

One character I remember well is the Jewish tailor Herman, who has a shop right across the street from the high school. He is really friendly and knows almost all the kids in the school. It's a shame when the character's shop is bombed and he becomes a target of Garrett's ruthless gang.

Highlights of the film:

There are a number of creative camera shots; one in particular is during a funeral sequence after a casket is lowered into the deep grave. We then see the lowered casket's point-of-view looking up at the diggers who are shoveling the dirt into the grave, and dirt falls right on the camera.

In one risque sequence reminding us of the pre-code era, one of the pretty female students has to pretend to seduce one of the gangsters in order to stall him, and one of the gangster's remarks is "I like my olives green".

I liked seeing the diverse high school; black students are seen with white students on the campus and walking the halls. A black student has an important role in the film when he helps the students kidnap Garrett at a shoe shine.

When Garrett is captured, he's taken to a secret hideout where hundreds of students put him at the center of a kangaroo court. The students lower him into a pit of rats to try to get him to confess to the murders he was responsible for. This is followed by a scene where the throng of students hail him off to the local judge, walking through the streets at night singing song such as "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and "Glory Glory Hallelujah". This ending seemed to go on a little long.

Overall though, it is a film worth seeing, and I found it thought provoking. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

More photos and more info about this film can be found here at the blog Take 39 Steps and Knock

Ladybug Ladybug (1963)

William Daniels playing a teacher 30 years before
he played one on television on Boy Meets World

"...a picture dedicated to life"

That's the tagline to this haunting anti-war film, which attempted to express on film how people were feeling about nuclear war at the time. The setting is a rural school that has frequent duck-and-cover drills. One day an alarm goes off; its color-coded light indicates a nuclear attack within an hour. The principal dismisses all of the children per protocol, even though no one is sure whether it's a malfunction or the real thing. The concept makes for a good, thrilling drama.

William Daniels, one of my favorite actors, plays the straight laced principal convincingly. Nancy Marchand is one of the teachers who is assigned to walk the pupils home, breaking her heels in the process. Along the way, one her music students says to another, "I'm a Soprano", which is kind of funny to a modern viewer who might be familiar with Ms. Marchand's work on the television show The Sopranos.

Estelle Parsons assures her frightened daughter that
if there really was going to be a nuclear attack,
they'd hear announcements on the radio.

In the meantime, the principal and the other school employees frantically try to connect with someone via the one telephone line in the building, but they keep getting busy signals (there was no voice mail back then) They also have no way of communicating any status updates with the other teachers who have left to walk the children home. This movie should really make you appreciate your cell phone, among other things.

The main focus of the film is on how the children react. As one child goes home, she's frightened to death; her down-to-earth mother (Estelle Parsons) tries to calm her senses. It's sad to see the little girl run to her room and hide under the bed with her fish in the fishbowl. Another group of students stick together in a shelter and argue amongst each other about war.

This film serves as another interesting time capsule of this period in history.

I didn't know what the title meant until I looked it up and found it was the title of a nursery rhyme which I was never familiar with it during my school days in the 1980s. I did recognize the monkey doll in one of the rooms to be Curious George; I did read and loved all those books.

RIP Jaime Escalante, influential teacher (1930-2010) who inspired Stand and Deliver (1988)

Respected high-school calculus teacher Jaime Escalante has passed away at the age of 79.

I might never have heard of him were it not for the Academy Award nominated inspirational drama Stand and Deliver. When I was in grade school one of our math teachers had us watch it; it became an all time favorite of mine.

Mr. Escalante, the subject of the film, was known for his many years of dedication to his math students, preparing them for A.P. calculus exams.

In his native Bolivia he taught physics and mathematics for many years. He pursued studies in Puerto Rico and Pasadena, California in the 1960s, and earned a degree in mathematics from California State University where he specialized in calculus.

He began to teach at Garfield High (East Los Angeles, California) which had a very bad academic reputation. Mr. Escalante was instrumental in turning the tables, and motivated his students to excel in math. He pushed to have Advanced Placement calculus courses, but his colleagues and school administrators had little hope initially. In 1979 he was finally allowed to teach the first AP Calculus course to five students. Two passed the AP test. In the years that followed, more students enrolled in the course and more passed.

In 1982, all 18 of his students passed the test, but all 18 got the same answer wrong, and they were suspected of cheating.

The students were asked to retake the test under intense observation and they all passed again.

These events were dramatized in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver

In the film, Mr. Escalante is portrayed by Edward James Olmos who won the "Best Actor" Independent Spirit award and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role". Mr. Escalante came with Olmos to the Oscar ceremony that year - I remember watching the ceremony that year and was rooting for Olmos to win. Escalante became known as "America's Most Famous Teacher".

Below: View the trailer to the movie:




Math with Professor Escalante was definately the class to take at Garfield High after 1982. In 1983, the number of students enrolling and passing the A.P. calculus test more than doubled.

Mr. Escalante went on to teach math in schools in Sacramento, California and at East Los Angeles College.

In 2001, Escalante returned to his native Bolivia and taught part time at the local university. He returned to the United States frequently to visit his children.

In recent years he faced financial difficulties from the cost of his cancer treatment. Cast members from Stand and Deliver, including Edward James Olmos, and some of Escalante's former pupils, raised funds to help pay for his medical bills.

He passed away this Tuesday, March 30, 2010, aged 79, at his son's home near Sacramento while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.He is survived by his wife Fabiola and his sons Fernando and Jaime Jr.

For a more detailed story of his life, read the Los Angeles Times tribute, the New York Times Tribute, and the Washington Post tribute.

Here is a great scene from the movie Stand and Deliver starring Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante:

The Miracle Worker (1962)

Based on both a play of the same name and real life events, this inspiring film (one of the most inspiring I've ever seen) tells the story of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. Young Helen Keller (Patty Duke), blind and deaf since infancy, is frustrated by her inability to communicate and subject to frequent violent and uncontrollable outbursts as a result. Unable to deal with the child, her terrified and helpless parents contact the Perkins School for the Blind for assistance. In response they send Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a former student, to the Keller home to tutor the child. What ensues is a battle of wills as Annie breaks down Helen's walls of silence and darkness through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness. Ms. Bancroft and Ms. Duke both won well deserved Academy Awards for their acting performances. See this movie if you have not. Directed by Arthur Penn.