In Memory of Rock
Early Short Films of the French New Wave
•
10m
Directed by François Reichenbach • Documentary • With Johnny Hallyday, Les Chaussettes Noires • 1963 • 11 minutes
IN MEMORY OF ROCK captures the power, promise, and fear generated by the early days of rock n’roll. It is also a fascinating study in the juxtaposition of image and music. Outside an arena, a crowd of young people gather for a concert, the camera lingering on them as we hear a Boccherini minuet. Inside, rising French rock stars Eddy Mitchell, Vince Taylor and Johnny Hallyday gyrate in leather jackets and cowboy boots to pounding drumbeats. Meanwhile, the floor in front of the stage turns into a proto-mosh pit (complete with injury), while the police perpetrate violence of their own. Is rock n’roll harmless fun or a social ill? This short offers no judgments, leaving interpretation to the viewer.
Up Next in Early Short Films of the French New Wave
-
The Little Cafe
Directed by François Reichenbach • Documentary • 1963 • 12 minutes
A slice-of-life film shot in a provincial cafe and hotel in the city of Bethune in the department of Pas-de-Calais, in Northern France. Older men smoke, drink beer and read the paper, young lovers gaze into each other’s eyes, and...
-
The Goumbé of the Young Revelers
Directed by Jean Rouch • Documentary • 1965 • 28 minutes
As West African cities faced explosive growth in the 1960s, young people found themselves displaced, living in urban centers far from their families and home regions.
Enter the goumbés—youth associations combining networking, mutual aid, ...
-
The Botanical Avatar of Mademoiselle ...
Directed by Jeanne Barbillon • Drama • With Bernadette Lafont, Louis Mesuret • 1965 • 15 minutes
In a small French town, Flora (Bernadette Lafont) has a six-week fling with a soldier. But this is no passionate affair. Her lover, the cartoonish Charles (Louis Mesuret), ignores her advances, insis...
