Most times I reference Godard to fellow movie lovers in the past couple decades, I instantly feel their withdrawal, their dis-ease with “difficult” movies, maybe fear of boredom.
I think I saw Virgin Mary at the NYFF in ‘85, but all the rest of my Godard viewing was at home. I’m not all that adventurous, I loved Breathless and just about everything up to and including Weekend, but even there I remember Marxist monologues, delivered by Paris sanitation men in voiceover staring motionless at us…and checked out until much later. I adore Histoires…
Alphaville is one of my favorites. It has everything I love about Godard. All that feverish brilliant thought and all that bruised romanticism, absurdity and effortless audacity, ugliness and Eddie Constantine…tropes wrapped in self-parody, irony, and then Bam! —like a swift left jab, a moment of poetry, a surrender to wonder.
It’s gratifying to see him spoken of in such grand terms today, when he has left us. Will this bring any courageous newbies forward, willing to risk a couple hours to sample this director who is absolutely unlike any other?
He was such an irritable intelligence. Reminds me of Broadcast News, when some guy says to Holly Hunter, “It must be great to always be the smartest person in the room,” and she says, with great feeling, “No. It’s *awful.*”
Very nice writing about great directors, and films which I should see more of.
I know the feeling, not in film so much, but being a composer: summer of 2021, the world lost two of the greatest living composers: the Dutch composer, Louis Andriessen, and an american, Frederick Rzewski. Days apart from each other . Same summer as one of my blues/r&B/rock musician/singer who no one ever heard of, but many have heard (as he toured and/or recoded with what seemed like an endless list of greats from Jimi Hendrix to Bonnie Rait), MIke Finnigan.
There should be a fancy four-syllable word that means "experiencing the works of an immensely influential artist only after consuming copious quantities of works they influenced." It's impossible for me to imagine seeing Breathless or Vivre Sa Vie in their day, and (so far) I've appreciated them hugely rather than loved them.
I did, however, love Bande a part and above all Alphaville, which (of this quartet) respectively do the least and most subversion of their borrowed American genre film tropes. It makes sense to me that there's initially an uncanny valley for trope subversion, and that the most most rewarding but difficult texts are those where the subversion is intermittent and unpredictable. So my education here is in its infancy.
I did see Goodbye to Language at the HFA and would have paid to see it again of I hadn't waited until the last day of its run. That bodes well.
To Deux ou Trois Choses, and the universe in a widescreen shot of a spoon stirring cream into a cup of coffee
To such commitment to Truth with a capital T that he was always reminding us that the cinema lies, it's not real, it's a movie experience you're having, what about your life?
How do we get so much we love in Robert Altman (to name one) without Godard?
Thanks Ty, — actually, I think this is my first time commenting. I’ve been reading your writing since I moved to Boston for grad school 10 years ago. When I moved back home, you were the reason I stayed subscribed to the Globe, all the years until you left.
I fell in love with the movies there, living in Brookline and walking to the Coolidge. I read your “50 movies” e-book and took long detours, an especially long one with Godard et al. I discovered Rohmer, and Ozu, maybe my two favorite directors.
I liked Masculin Feminin quite a bit, but I watched about 10 Godard films in all and for the most part, I just couldn’t get on with him. Every so often I get the feeling I ought to try again. That I ought to appreciate him more. That yes, he’s a smart guy, difficult, etc. But he mostly left me cold.
Late to this, but thank you for such a wonderful tribute to my favorite filmmaker.
I’m sometimes discouraged by how little he seems to resonate with younger film watchers beyond a couple of the obvious classics (Breathless, Vivre sa Vie) and I do wonder from time to time whether his movies will fade in importance even to me. But I picked up Le Gai Savoir as well as a Gorin 3 Blu Ray set just before the pandemic and was amazed at how much I enjoyed them all (especially Le Gai Savoir which I watched 3 times in one weekend).
And Histoire du Cinema might be the only four and a half hour film I’ve watched nearly a dozen times, yet I couldn’t possibly explain why someone who hadn’t heard of it should watch it. I know that sounds cultish, but sometimes you just have to let the experience happen and if you get it, you get it.
I hope his work goes through another period of re-appreciation and reevaluation in the future. Whatever his faults and idiosyncrasies, he was always worth the time for me, even in his most didactic and gnomic moments.
Oh my, I had forgotten about the Hail Mary brouhaha! I too walked thru the protesters to see it, either at the Brattle or the Orson Welles. Unfortunately, I think it clouded my mind to the actual movie, because I don't remember. And while perhaps too late, I should revisit some of his movies because they never "stuck" with me.
Oh my. Nailed it. Been thinking about his impact ALL day.
Camera as hand grenade.
Don’t miss his mini-epic with Jefferson Airplane featured in a near apocalyptic performance from a NYC rooftop
Most times I reference Godard to fellow movie lovers in the past couple decades, I instantly feel their withdrawal, their dis-ease with “difficult” movies, maybe fear of boredom.
I think I saw Virgin Mary at the NYFF in ‘85, but all the rest of my Godard viewing was at home. I’m not all that adventurous, I loved Breathless and just about everything up to and including Weekend, but even there I remember Marxist monologues, delivered by Paris sanitation men in voiceover staring motionless at us…and checked out until much later. I adore Histoires…
Alphaville is one of my favorites. It has everything I love about Godard. All that feverish brilliant thought and all that bruised romanticism, absurdity and effortless audacity, ugliness and Eddie Constantine…tropes wrapped in self-parody, irony, and then Bam! —like a swift left jab, a moment of poetry, a surrender to wonder.
It’s gratifying to see him spoken of in such grand terms today, when he has left us. Will this bring any courageous newbies forward, willing to risk a couple hours to sample this director who is absolutely unlike any other?
He was such an irritable intelligence. Reminds me of Broadcast News, when some guy says to Holly Hunter, “It must be great to always be the smartest person in the room,” and she says, with great feeling, “No. It’s *awful.*”
Very nice writing about great directors, and films which I should see more of.
I know the feeling, not in film so much, but being a composer: summer of 2021, the world lost two of the greatest living composers: the Dutch composer, Louis Andriessen, and an american, Frederick Rzewski. Days apart from each other . Same summer as one of my blues/r&B/rock musician/singer who no one ever heard of, but many have heard (as he toured and/or recoded with what seemed like an endless list of greats from Jimi Hendrix to Bonnie Rait), MIke Finnigan.
There should be a fancy four-syllable word that means "experiencing the works of an immensely influential artist only after consuming copious quantities of works they influenced." It's impossible for me to imagine seeing Breathless or Vivre Sa Vie in their day, and (so far) I've appreciated them hugely rather than loved them.
I did, however, love Bande a part and above all Alphaville, which (of this quartet) respectively do the least and most subversion of their borrowed American genre film tropes. It makes sense to me that there's initially an uncanny valley for trope subversion, and that the most most rewarding but difficult texts are those where the subversion is intermittent and unpredictable. So my education here is in its infancy.
I did see Goodbye to Language at the HFA and would have paid to see it again of I hadn't waited until the last day of its run. That bodes well.
YES! YES YES YES YES!
To Pierrot
To Contempt
To Vivre Sa Vie
To Lemmy Caution!
To Weekend!
To Deux ou Trois Choses, and the universe in a widescreen shot of a spoon stirring cream into a cup of coffee
To such commitment to Truth with a capital T that he was always reminding us that the cinema lies, it's not real, it's a movie experience you're having, what about your life?
How do we get so much we love in Robert Altman (to name one) without Godard?
a GIANT has passed today...
Thanks Ty. Very well done
Thanks Ty, — actually, I think this is my first time commenting. I’ve been reading your writing since I moved to Boston for grad school 10 years ago. When I moved back home, you were the reason I stayed subscribed to the Globe, all the years until you left.
I fell in love with the movies there, living in Brookline and walking to the Coolidge. I read your “50 movies” e-book and took long detours, an especially long one with Godard et al. I discovered Rohmer, and Ozu, maybe my two favorite directors.
I liked Masculin Feminin quite a bit, but I watched about 10 Godard films in all and for the most part, I just couldn’t get on with him. Every so often I get the feeling I ought to try again. That I ought to appreciate him more. That yes, he’s a smart guy, difficult, etc. But he mostly left me cold.
Late to this, but thank you for such a wonderful tribute to my favorite filmmaker.
I’m sometimes discouraged by how little he seems to resonate with younger film watchers beyond a couple of the obvious classics (Breathless, Vivre sa Vie) and I do wonder from time to time whether his movies will fade in importance even to me. But I picked up Le Gai Savoir as well as a Gorin 3 Blu Ray set just before the pandemic and was amazed at how much I enjoyed them all (especially Le Gai Savoir which I watched 3 times in one weekend).
And Histoire du Cinema might be the only four and a half hour film I’ve watched nearly a dozen times, yet I couldn’t possibly explain why someone who hadn’t heard of it should watch it. I know that sounds cultish, but sometimes you just have to let the experience happen and if you get it, you get it.
I hope his work goes through another period of re-appreciation and reevaluation in the future. Whatever his faults and idiosyncrasies, he was always worth the time for me, even in his most didactic and gnomic moments.
Oh my, I had forgotten about the Hail Mary brouhaha! I too walked thru the protesters to see it, either at the Brattle or the Orson Welles. Unfortunately, I think it clouded my mind to the actual movie, because I don't remember. And while perhaps too late, I should revisit some of his movies because they never "stuck" with me.