Robert Bresson's Pickpocket (1959)

So much has been written about this movie. What can I say without looking like an idiot? 

It was much better that I thought it would be.

I'm still weirdly fixated on the terrible, extreme low budget westerns I was watching. I kept thinking how much better they might be if they had superficially imitated Bresson. Non-emotive acting, holding shots a second or two longer than necessary, sound effects a little louder than normal. People doing things and things happening without explanation. Narration provided by having the main character write in his diary.

There used to be a show on in syndication. People dressed as beatniks would introduce 1950's science fiction movies. They understood the parallels between art house film and the low end of commercial cinema. Or maybe they couldn't tell the difference. 

Available on The Criterion Channel.