The Criterion Collection

So sexy, subversive, profound mediation on civilization and its discontents as well as the frustration of the unevolved male psyche.

Perhaps the very first movie I picked up and sort of made myself to watch just because of the cover. Watched it twice- once through the whole way, then with the feature commentary. What's in the box? What's real? What's a dream? Why does the crippled husband stand up at the end? Who knows? Why does it matter?

the ending made up for all the confusion and disorientation I felt watching this as a rookie viewer. I liked it, but it all seemed too busy and crowded and incomplete to really bring it home. Then the dance around the unbuilt film set, hand in hand, everyone in your life, every part of your own personality, in the endless stream of life...beautiful.

This movie is a piece of dynamite of compassion, verve, and steely-eyed social insight. People put a lot of emotional baggage onto Lee and this movie, but the truth is it's so much more complex, wise and downright funny than the haters seem to think. His career hasn't been as consistent as it might have been, but the truth is this is a masterpiece. I heard Barack and Michelle Obama saw it on their first date.

Flawless- dramatic, tense, engaging and ideal to introduce people to the accessible wonders of foreign film.

Watched this and it blew my mind. I'd never seen anything like it before- those silences, empty spaces, the raw humanity on objective, unjudging display. I absolutely have to write about this some day in greater detail.

I'd always heard it was a classic, etc, blahblahblah. I watched it and didn't really get it, but then I decided to check out the commentary and it was a wonderful experience with a witty, erudite and approachable professor (not a Criterion edition, unfortunately) who explained that Godard liked to film people "hanging out"- and suddenly it clicked.

Took me a couple of viewings to really appreciate it and then it became one of the most vivid, painful, and deeply informative movie experiences of my life. Absolutely one of my top ten films of all time, no question.

maybe its wrong, but I really really related to Antoine Doinel. Is it me, or is this the entire point of the movie's greatness?

Never realized a movie could be like this- intellectually engaging, beautifully shot and profound and searching as any classic literature could ever be. The ending is humanistic, a subtly moving affirmation of solidarity and commitment to mutual dignity that offsets the relativism and amorality we just saw run riot for the past hour or so. A work of art that is as complex as it is simple: timeless.