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Post by oh oooh on Sept 13, 2022 8:22:59 GMT
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 8:35:07 GMT
Wow - A huge figure in film and a fascinating one.
I rather suspect he's not now seen in quite the same way as he once was (as this enfant terrible genius of film). It'll be interesting to see how his reputation holds up.
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Post by oh oooh on Sept 13, 2022 8:39:42 GMT
I think everything he made that wasn't political (i.e. until 1967 or so) stands up well. Breathless is still revered by film students the world over, still tops polls. Bande A Part, Alphaville and Pierrot Le Fou are great films.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 8:52:45 GMT
I think everything he made that wasn't political (i.e. until 1967 or so) stands up well. Breathless is still revered by film students the world over, still tops polls. Bande A Part, Alphaville and Pierrot Le Fou are great films. great...I'm not so sure about that. But they can be entertaining if you don't take them too seriously. I think his best film after A Bout De Souffle is La Mepris. |
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Sept 13, 2022 8:58:16 GMT
I would add Contempt to that. I know some people rate My Life To Live very highly but I was unmoved.
Obviously he was an important director but he doesn't particularly move me I have to say and I do find him a bit too much of his time. I won't mention his politics lol
RIP
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 9:03:24 GMT
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 9:04:42 GMT
I would add Contempt to that. I I did.  |
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 9:22:01 GMT
He's cinema's equivalent of punk in many ways. The same criticisms people make of punk you can make of him. But it's impossible to imagine film history without him.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Sept 13, 2022 9:29:58 GMT
It must have taken Bradshaw a while to type that with his cock in his hands.
"The last great 20th-century modernist is dead".
That's what I dislike about him I guess whereas others consider it a great strength.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 9:53:55 GMT
It must have taken Bradshaw a while to type that with his cock in his hands. "The last great 20th-century modernist is dead". That's what I dislike about him I guess whereas others consider it a great strength. That he wasn't a classicist? |
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Sept 13, 2022 10:13:27 GMT
That his experimentation and that meta approach creates an ironic distance that occasionally jars and stops me truly connecting with the film on a deeper emotional level. It's like he's too clever, knowing and irreverent for his own good sometimes. Maybe there are exceptions like the movie Bradshaw praises but then something like My Life To Live leaves me cold too. I found its austere style unmoving and artificial.
It doesn't surprise me that Tarantino is a big fan for example. You see that focus on style and on the medium of cinema itself in his films too. To a more shallow extent mind.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 13, 2022 10:22:02 GMT
That his experimentation and that meta approach creates an ironic distance that occasionally jars and stops me truly connecting with the film on a deeper emotional level. It's like he's too clever, knowing and irreverent for his own good sometimes. Maybe there are exceptions like the movie Bradshaw praises but then something like My Life To Live leaves me cold too. I found its austere style unmoving and artificial. It doesn't surprise me that Tarantino is a big fan for example. You see that focus on style and on the medium of cinema itself in his films too. To a more shallow extent mind. I kind of like him more than you do, but I know what you mean. I don't find his films cold, he's having too much fun for that and that comes across I think. They can be frustratingly unfocussed and indulgent though. There is something a bit adolescent about him I think, which might be why he lost his way as he got older. There was a great comment under the Bradshaw article actually: His early films really are extraordinary. Le Mepris, which people (following Godard himself) tend to be a bit snobby about, is a tremendous achievement; surprisingly classical, beautifully composed, deeply emotional. I think it’s his best - perhaps his only really serious film, like a Bergman drama shot by Renoir.
The comparison with Lennon against Truffaut’s McCartney works really well, even including their falling out, though sadly it was Francois who died too soon, but it’s nonsense to claim he was the first filmmaker to think seriously, or abstractly, about film. Welles, and before him Eisenstein, made more lasting philosophical contributions, and Godard’s own contemporaries (especially Resnais and Marker) were arguably bolder and more successful in making films-as-essays.
He was brilliantly of his time (and what a time it was) but never quite transcended it in the way that Bergman (for example) did. This sounds like a criticism, but actually I think it’s what makes those early films so irresistible; they’re pop art.I agree with a lot of that. |
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Sept 13, 2022 10:36:35 GMT
Good comments.
Adolescent, yes. A bit like a teenager with ADHD. It's not like I dislike modernism in film but with someone like Bergman it's integrated into the movie in a more natural, organic way with more intellectual, emotional heft behind it. It feels like its done with a greater artistic purpose.
Contempt is the one I've loved the most but then some of his stuff I haven't seen since I was a student (2 or 3 Things, Alphaville).
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Sneelock
god
you're gonna break another heart
Posts: 8,546
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Post by Sneelock on Sept 13, 2022 15:42:26 GMT
He had a strong hand on revising opinions on American crime films. all those respected Noir Classics weren't always respected.IMO Him and his pointy headed buddies had a LOT to do with "pure cinema" being something to take seriously. Those early ones should secure his place for all time but my favorites are the ones where he shows off a bit. I stopped forcing people to watch "Alphaville" which is a shame because I miss watching it. Here is what I like about Godard out in plain sight for all to see. the chewed up old guy is the greatest detective. he travels from one galaxy to the next in his car. why? because I say so. LOL. the balls!
I know people stopped taking him seriously (overall) the more seriously he took himself but I think he understood the power of the medium. I know "Weekend" is hard to watch but HOLY FUCK, what a relic it is of that era. you crack a couple of books and a movie like Weekend makes sense because of how fucked up the world was when he was making it. I respect artists who feel like this stuff should not go unnoticed. I'm also very fond of "contempt" because it underlines my favorite thing about JLG - he had NO fucks left to give and pretty early on.
lord knows why movies have the sway on us that they do. He knew that they did. I think maybe he put some thought into that while making them. I say that counts for something.
I think he should be WAY more famous than he is but there are better things to be than famous - important for example. I think he was important. . |
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Post by oh oooh on Sept 13, 2022 16:04:43 GMT
the BBC is saying 'assisted suicide'
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