À bout de souffle (1960)

There are very few films that define important cinematic events as well as this totally unexpected box office sensation from 1960. Anyone young enough to think that Quentin Tarantino or MTV invented the 'jump-cut', needs a viewing of this film to fully understand where an entire generation of young Hollywood film-makers learned their basic techniques. Jean-Luc Godard's first directorial effort ushered in an entire pantheon of 'against the grain' modes: broken eye-line matches, improvised dialogue, no unnecessary editing, and total location shooting. All elements of the Nouvelle Vauge (French New Wave). This is a country-of-origin French grande from the first year of release.