Jean Vigo's "Zero for Conduct" embodies all the worst connotations of the term 'art film': it's dull, pretentious and incomprehensible. Worst of all, the claims that critics make for the film are untrue. Far from being 'the purest picture in the history of cinema of what authority appears to be to young minds' (Mick Martin & Marsha Porter, 'Video Movie Guide'), "Zero for Conduct" comes off as an effete adult's self-consciously artsy statement about youth versus the powers that be...and it's a long, distorted lens indeed that Vigo was looking down. Explosions, fast cars and nude starlets aren't necessarily my idea of a good time, but neither is this. (If you're in the mood for art cinema, might I suggest Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon" instead?)
Review of Zero for Conduct
