Highest-Rated Movies about 'New Wave'

Mahanagar (1963), The Firemen's Ball (1967), Mouchette (1967), Harakiri (1962), Two English Girls (1971), Stop Making Sense (1984), Charulata (1964), Regular Lovers (2005) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best New Wave movies.

#2. The Firemen's Ball (1967)

Storyline: In Milos Forman's satire on Communism set in a small Czechoslovakian town in the 1960s, the local firemen decide to organize a ball, however the proceedings are dogged by difficulty at every step. They plan to organize a beauty pageant at the ball, yet struggle tremendously to find enough pretty contestants. A lottery is planned for later in the evening, but the guests begin stealing the prizes. Then, inevitably, there is a fire in the town... It seems that whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

Plot Keywords: comedy, satire, bureaucracy, collectivism, absurdity, political allegory, 1960s ...

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#3. Mouchette (1967)

Storyline: Young teen Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) faces hardships everywhere in her difficult life. Her father (Paul Hébert) is a cruel drunk who neglects her. Meanwhile, her mother (Marie Cardinal) lies ill, slowly dying. One day, fleeing a rainstorm, Mouchette comes across Arsène (Jean-Claude Guilbert), a poacher with a violent streak. He lets her take shelter in his cabin but then assaults her. Arsène even blackmails Mouchette to involve her in a cover-up for a crime he's committed.

Plot Keywords: french film, drama, black and white, 1960s, social marginalization, poverty, rural life ...

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#4. Harakiri (1962)

Storyline: Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri (self-inflicted disembowelment). An elder warrior, Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) seeks admittance to the house of a feudal lord to commit the act. There, he learns of the fate of his son-in-law, a young samurai who sought work at the house but was instead barbarically forced to commit traditional hara-kiri in an excruciating manner with a dull bamboo blade. In flashbacks the samurai tells the tragic story of his son-in-law, and how he was forced to sell his real sword to support his sick wife and child. Tsugumo thus sets in motion a tense showdown of revenge against the house.

Plot Keywords: honor, revenge, moral dilemma, ritual, tragedy, sacrifice, social criticism ...

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#5. Two English Girls (1971)

Storyline: This French film chronicles a decades-long love triangle between Claude (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an art critic, and sisters Ann (Kika Markham) and Muriel (Stacey Tendeter). Claude initially intends to marry Muriel, but after a lengthy separation, he decides to call off the wedding. Ann then visits Claude in Paris to champion her heartbroken sister. Instead, Ann falls for Claude. Over the intervening years, Claude's preference shifts as the three remain embroiled in a complicated relationship.

Plot Keywords: romance, drama, french film, literary adaptation, love triangle, romanticism, emotional conflict ...

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#6. Stop Making Sense (1984)

Storyline: David Byrne walks onto the stage and does a solo "Psycho Killer." Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz join him for two more songs. The crew is busy, still setting up. Then, three more musicians and two back-up singers join the band. Everybody sings, plays, harmonizes, dances, and runs. They change instruments and clothes. Bryne appears in the Big Suit. The backdrop is often black, but sometimes it displays words, images, or children's drawings. The band cooks for 18 songs, the lyrics are clear, the house rocks. In this concert film, the Talking Heads hardly talk, don't stop, and always make sense.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: concert film, documentary, music, live performance, 1980s, american film, art film ...

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#7. Charulata (1964)

Storyline: Charu lives a lonely and idle life in 1870s India. Although her husband Bhupati devotes more time to his newspaper than to their marriage, he sees her loneliness and asks his brother-in-law,Umapada to keep her company. At the same time Bhupati's own cousin, Amal, a would-be writer comes home finishing his college education. However, after several months, Charu and Amal's feelings for each other move beyond literary friendship.—Erik Gregersen <erik@astro.asutexas.edu>

Plot Keywords: romance, marriage, loneliness, intellectual, 19th century, india, literature ...

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#9. Le Samouraï (1967)

Storyline: Hitman Jef Costello is a perfectionist who always carefully plans his murders and who never gets caught. One night however, after killing a night-club owner, he's seen by witnesses. His efforts to provide himself with an alibi fail and more and more he gets driven into a corner.

Plot Keywords: crime, thriller, film noir, french film, loneliness, fate, mystery ...

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#10. The 400 Blows (1959)

Storyline: Seemingly in constant trouble at school, 14-year-old Antoine Doinel returns at the end of every day to a drab, unhappy home life. His parents have little money and he sleeps on a couch that's been pushed into the kitchen. His parents bicker constantly and he knows his mother is having an affair. He decides to skip school and begins a downward spiral of lies and theft. His parents are at their wits' end, and after he's stopped by the police, they decide the best thing would be to let Antoine face the consequences. He's sent to a juvenile detention facility where he doesn't do much better. He does manage to escape however.

Plot Keywords: french film, coming of age, rebellion, adolescence, paris, black and white, semi-autobiographical ...

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#11. The Beaches of Agnès (2008)

Storyline: At nearly 80, Agnès Varda explores her memory - growing up in Belgium, living in Sète, Paris, and Noirmoutier, discovering photography, making a film, being part of the New Wave, raising children with Jacques Demy, losing him, and growing old. She explores her memory using photographs, film clips, home movies, contemporary interviews, and set pieces she designs to capture a feeling, a time, or a frame. Shining through each scene are her impish charm, inventiveness, and natural empathy. How do people grow old, how does loss stay with them, can they remain creative, and what do they remember? Memory, she says, is like a swarm of confused flies. She envisions hers for us.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: documentary, french cinema, memory, art, filmmaking, experimental film, personal history ...

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#12. Day for Night (1973)

Storyline: The shooting of "Je vous presente Pamela" (may I introduce Pamela) begins. This is the story of en English married wife falling in love and running away with the father of her French husband. Will be simultaneously shown the shooting, the behavior of the people (including the technical team) on the set, and a part of their private life (a factor of complication)...

Plot Keywords: french, drama, comedy, metafilm, filmmaking, behind the scenes, director ...

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#14. Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)

Storyline: The last of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales. Frederic leads a bourgeois life; he is a partner in a small Paris office and is happily married to Helene, a teacher expecting her second child. In the afternoons, Frederic daydreams about other women, but has no intention of taking any action. One day, Chloe, who had been a mistress of an old friend, begins dropping by his office. They meet as friends, irregularly in the afternoons, till eventually Chloe decides to seduce Frederic, causing him a moral dilemma.—Will Gilbert

Plot Keywords: french film, romance, marriage, infidelity, psychological drama, paris, middle class ...

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#15. The Gleaners and I (2000)

Storyline: An intimate, picaresque inquiry into French life as lived by the country's poor and its provident, as well as by the film's own director, Agnes Varda. The aesthetic, political and moral point of departure for Varda are gleaners, those individuals who pick at already-reaped fields for the odd potato, the leftover turnip.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: documentary, french cinema, social issues, poverty, environmentalism, sustainability, agriculture ...

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