La Nuit Americaine (Day For Night)

Truffaut's 1973 classic celebration of the movie business. This is a real feature of joy, lightness, with moves towards more serious drama at times, but always the pleasures that Truffaut cannot but help bring to the screen.
Truffaut is smart with his shots; he likes to use different kinds of shots in the same manner but on different occassions and situations, retaining an air of continuity while keeping the piece connected. We have the tracking shot horizontally, that picks up individual characters and stays with them for a bit, then moves along. This, like in 'Jules Et Jim', conveys a sense of almost hand-held excitment and movement. When the Hollywood star comes on in this film he also starts to use close-ups and more 'classic' still shots for the first time (compared to his usual mid-shots in motion). This conveys how the Hollywood actor sees her own life as some kind of Hollywood melodrama, in a way. It is an interesting side-point to see how she develops away from this until the filming from her point of view becomes almost, more typically Truffaut-esque, 'European'.
This film is in many ways a collection of sweet, interesting, and often genuinely funny scenes. Each one is a little joy in itself. They are interconnected with an emotional heft that is largely below the surface, only occassionally, when articulated, being realised (again, as in 'Jules Et Jim'). Truffaut just about gets away with this light/ serious duality.
For all this drama though, the film remains a twinkle in the eye. The scenes where Truffaut pays direct homage, the beauty of everyone involved, such tropes give a sense of a genuine celebration. The weird meta-character of the activity is also well done so as not to overly intrude, being open for analysis if one wishes, but not in a heavy handed manner.
A real pleasure for its entire run time, highly reccommended, one of the great films about filmaking.