The critic highlights R. Linklater's courage in tackling diverse subjects with credible passion, treating nostalgia with depth. Beyond his well-known Before... trilogy and the monumental Boyhood, works such as Bernie, Everybody Wants Some!!, or Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood should be recognized.
In Nouvelle Vague, the director risks narrating the twenty-day shoot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1959 debut feature, achieving a playful and generous portrait of an era overflowing with cinematic creation and innovation.
The director's ability to infect us with that unrestrained enthusiasm of the moment is evident in a product of intense joviality amidst a fabulous journey through time.
The film uses period-appropriate black and white, full of irony and respect, with multiple visual references as an homage. This frenzy of filmmaking was possible because the 'new forms' allowed for much more economical shooting, leading to the premiere of over 160 films by novice French directors in 1959 alone.
