Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

So, me and Truffaut have this kind of love/hate thing going on. Actually, it's more like I really like most of his work, but I don't think that I like it as much as I should. This, and only this, keeps me up at night. Only, not really. But, since reading his collection of writings, The Films In My Life, I think I have a better understanding of why he made films and why they are the way they are. He once said, and I'm paraphrasing of course, that he didn't like a film unless it expressed the joy or fun of making a film, and that's something that always sticks out in my mind when I see one of his works. You can really sense his joy behind the camera, freewheeling his way through a film, no matter what.

Shoot the Piano Player is, in some ways, a very conventional gangster/noir film. But, there's really not much darkness or cynicism that you can see in traditional films, but there's a strong sense of character and emotional undercurrent that is often lacking, not only in films of the genre, but in most film. I was struck with how unpredictable the narrative was, and despite having seen many many films of the genre before, I had no idea what was coming next in Piano Player.

I really noticed Truffaut's views on women in the film. In the car, the gangsters are talking to Charlie and Lena, and they say that women secretly love the attention that men give them on the streets and they try their hardest to attract it. Later on, they say something along the lines of, "no wonder women are always horny, their legs are always rubbing together under their skirts!" Between this, Jean-Pierre Leuad's constant questioning in Day for Night ("Are women magic?" "No, but their legs are") and the famous line in Jules et Jim, "Your breasts are the only bombs I've ever loved," I really get a feeling Francois had a deep admiration for the female form. But, not in a dirty, lecherous way. And even if you feel that way, you can't hold it against the little guy.