The 400 Blows/Monika

It’s hard to imagine cinema without François Truffaut and Ingmar Bergman, whose paradigm-busting films resisted the mainstream in favor of radical styles and topics. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston screens a film from each today, both starring tortured teenagers. Truffaut’s 1959 feature-film debut Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), part character study, part social protest, tells of a French teen who partakes in some petty crime as a form of rebellion, but who keeps getting busted and is sent off to a work camp. Bergman’s 1953 film Monika deals with teen pregnancy, a topic, Juno fans might realize, that was some 55 years before its time. Two masters exploring the nefarious tangle that is adolescence? It’s no Zohan/Love Guru combo, but we’ll happily take it. The 400 Blows screens at 7 p.m. Friday, 9 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Monika screens at 9 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7515 or visit www.mfah.org. $6 to $7.
Fri., July 25, 7 p.m.; Sat., July 26, 9 p.m.; Sun., July 27, 5 p.m., 2008