Jean Luc Godard

Paris Belongs to Us defies genre and defies even the loose standards of the New Wave. It does, however, undeniably represent the cinema of Jacques Rivette.

In 1960, Jean-Luc Godard’s first feature film, Breathless, would make him an icon of French cinema, inaugurating a career that has consistently expanded society’s definitions and expectations of cinema. That film alone would have reason enough to consider him an important filmmaker, but Godard went on to direct fourteen more features through 1967, culminating with …

So in many respects, here and elsewhere, and again, it does admittedly come down to what could be done in the 1950s versus the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder is indeed like Douglas Sirk, but like Douglas Sirk turned up to 11.

Every Man for Himself, and the reason why it’s such a pivotal film in Godard’s cannon, is a continuation of certain themes and styles, and a sign of new things to come.

“I disappear between these two moments of speech/ self-portrait not autobiography” – Jean-Luc Godard Never has Godard been so melancholic and comedic in one film. JLG/JLG: self-portrait in December (hereafter referred to as JLG/JLG) is a portrait of an artist, the artist of cinema, at sixty four. Part documentary, part film essay, JLG/JLG is a …

15. The Immigrant  – If one were to rank the films of 2014 based solely on innovation, The Immigrant would probably end up near the bottom. Writer-director James Gray’s languid melodrama tells the tumultuous story of a resilient Polish woman looking to find a slice of the American Dream, without much in the way of …

40. Night Moves Since 2006, Kelly Reichardt has found a way to reach inside of the hearts of her audiences, plucking out strings one by one with desolate re-imaginations of the American Pacific Northwest, seen through the eyes of people not so different than ourselves. With Meek’s Cutoff, she departed from her typical genre and moved …

What makes this an exciting release goes beyond the look of the picture (though that is paramount). This is, in every regard, one of the greatest films ever made.

“If I love you, that’s the end of you.” — Carmen x

Following Passion (1982) and Scenario du film passion (1982), Jean-Luc Godard directed First Name: Carmen (1983), starring Marushka Detmers, Jacques Bonnaffe, and himself. Godard was inspired by Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), a musical-comedy about a woman that seduces a soldier ordered to escort her to the authorities. Preminger’s film is an adaptation of a 1943 stage production by Oscar Hammerstein II, which is itself an adaptation of the 1845 novella Carmen by Prospere Merimee. Anne-Marie Mieville was very interested in writing a script that was similar to the spirit of Preminger’s film, and Godard loved that film as well but wanted to change the music. Exit Bizet’s music and enter Beethoven’s “Late Quartets”, which are integral for First Name: Carmen.

Nouvelle Vague (1990) is not a cinematic treatment of the Young Turks breaking new ground in the sixties but a film about the history of cinema told as a biblical allegory. Old and New Testament; Old and New Wave; the studio system and the post-studio era; Delon as Roger and Richard Lennox who fall in …

With Goodbye to Language, Godard sought to explore a certain kind of language that cinema still allows: “A mixture of words and images.” To that aim, I would say mission accomplished.

Underneath the bass drops and the electronic harmony of the garage music scene of 1990s Paris is melancholy and loneliness. The parties are bursting with verve and energy, but when the music stops, so does that joy. Hansen-Løve’s examination of a young DJ over the course of twenty years is warm and tender, an incredible look at the pros and cons of following your passion, allowing art to be your escape, and the joy of music.

When I finally got around to seeing Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, the thing I kept saying to people was, “Isn’t it funny that this film needs to be seen in 3D and yet itself does not justify 3D’s place within cinema?” I still hold my “it’s fine” opinion on that film, denying its status as an Avatar0esque game changer, and I thought I’d have to keep searching for that. Luckily, I found it right off the bat at the New York Film Festival: Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D redefines not only 3D in film, but quite possibly film itself.

Over fifty years after Godard helped changed the face of Western cinema with Breathless, his work remains divisive, innovative and for lack of a better word, avant-garde. While Adieu au Langage is Godard’s second foray into 3D technology, it is his first feature length effort using the technique and is far more complex than his …

Though I did get to attend the TCM Classic Film Festival earlier this year (which was an amazing experience, and well worth your time), the New York Film Festival, in its 52nd year this time around, will be the first time I will have attended a festival as press. So, I’m very giddy about it. …

The French New Wave, that cinematic movement from the 1960s that essentially defined iconoclasm for film, has undoubtedly had its impact on nearly everything, from film to music to style. And given its indelible impact on cultural history, it’s one of the easiest artistic movements to pull from, as demonstrated from three key music videos …

“‘Hail Mary’ is a film of significant meaning and remarkable artistry, but one that tends to get obscured by a controversy that, in all reality, was relatively isolated and, over time, proved to be rather reactionary. Now available on a Cohen Media Group Blu-ray for the first time, this contentious title from one of Godard’s most eclectic and productive periods of filmmaking can be newly appreciated (or damned).”

Riffing on Terek Puckett’s terrific list of director/actor collaborations, I wanted to look at some of those equally impressive leading ladies who served as muses for their directors. I strived to look for collaborations that may not have been as obviously canonical, but whose effects on cinema were no less compelling. Categorizing a film’s lead …

On December 14, 2012, a young man named Adam Lanza broke into a primary school and fatally shot 26 people in the small village of Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Twenty of them were children, aged 6 or 7. On that day, no matter where I went or what I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about the …

Throughout January, SOS writers will be biting the bullet and finally sitting down with a film they feel like bad film buffs for not having seen already. ‘À bout de souffle (Breathless)‘ Directed by Jean-Luc Godard François Truffaut (story) Jean-Luc Godard (screenplay) 1960, France Because of a long-standing allergy to Jean-Luc Godard which erupted after …

Masculin Feminin Directed by Jean-Luc Godard France, Sweden, 1966 Godard’s Masculin Feminin is a film on a precipice.  Behind the great director are the carefree films of the first part of the decade: Breathless, A Woman is a Woman, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville.  In front lie those more politically disparate films La Chinoise, Week End, …

Film Socialisme Directed by Jean-Luc Godard France, 2010 Jean-Luc Godard’s latest, Film Socialisme, is simply a bad film.  In fact, it is the worst film that has been released so far this year, and it demonstrates that, at least at the moment, Godard is completely full of shit.  Don’t get me wrong, Godard has made …

As the Super Bowl approaches, Slate has created a video which shows us what it might be like if filmmakers directed the telecast for the big game. Watch the video embedded after the jump. Head over to Slate to check out the video.