Tomorrow is Jean-Luc Godards birthday, one of my all-time favorite filmmakers who changed the landscape of modern cinema forever. He was the face of the French New Wave, its greatest innovator. The nouvelle vague (the French New Wave) is a movement in French cinema that began, arguably, in 1959 and extended through the mid-to-late 60s. It was marked by heavy formal experimentation and a rebellious attitude toward the conventional mores of cinema. The filmmakers of the French New Wave (Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, Chabrol, Resnais, Marker, and Varda, amongst others) were fed up with the state of then-modern cinema, and so they executed a cinematic coup. Many of them were film critics who had never made a film before, so they picked up cameras, so to speak, and made films that shocked the world, films of which no one had ever seen the like. The heads of traditional and classical filmmakers everywhere began to roll, and cinema was never the same. Of all the movements many gifted auteurs, no one embodied its revolutionary spirit, its deconstructionist approach, and its complete and utter refusal to conform better than Jean-Luc Godard. After Truffauts The 400 Blows and Resnaiss Hiroshima mon amour kicked the movement into full gear in 1959, shaking the bastions of conventional cinema to their core, the fatal blow was delivered in 1960 by Godard, with his debut feature Breathless. Together, these three watershed films are considered the cornerstones of the nouvelle vague. Godard would go on to direct dozens and dozens of films, and while the new wave died off by the end of the 60s, Godard did not. He continued to pioneer and, in fact, is still alive and well, making films today. Tomorrow hell turn 84. Ive seen 14 of his feature films and 5 of his short films, but almost all of them were made in the 60s, or just before or after. The only exception, and the most recent film Ive seen of Godards, is Hail Mary, a 1985 film that is often considered one of the most controversial films ever made (Godard, ever the iconoclast). In reality, however, the film was quite sincere, heartfelt, and beautiful, and in my opinion a masterpiece. Godard was a true master of cinema. Despite being heavily political and therefore often allowing his immensely gifted intellect to be squandered on the expression of dogmatic political convictions (Godard was a socialist; he was a devout Marxist-Leninist and a Maoist), one thing for which Godard could always be counted on was to make intelligent, fun, and exciting films. He kept it fresh like none other. He pushed the boundaries of cinema to see how far they could bend, in some cases snapping them all together. There are some things I dont like about his films, but the pros outweigh the cons by far, and say what you will about him, hes never less than interesting. He reminds us of the magic that cinema is capable of producing. He reminds us that films need not conform to mainstream, commercial standards defined by producers and studio heads whose artistic ambition is nil and who long for nothing more than to stuff their pockets. For his intelligence, for his experimentalism, for his sheer audacity, we love Godard. Happy 84th, old fellow. Thanks for everything. Heres a 20-minute short film by Godard called Charlotte and Veronique (a.k.a. All the Boys Are Called Patrick). It was released in 1959, when Godard had yet to release his game-changing Breathless, and had, in fact, never released a feature film, only a couple of shorts. This would be the final short film before he blasted his way onto the scene with Breathless. I love this short film. Its directed by Godard, but its written by Eric Rohmer. Rohmer is another one of my favorite French directors, and his penmanship produces the films fantastic dialogue, whic was Rohmers specialty. The star of the film is Jean-Claude Brialy, one of the actors who served as a face for the French New Wave (not quite the household name that Jean-Pierre Léaud or Jean-Paul Belmondo were, but close). Brialy is charismatic, sauve, and has lots of personality, and hes fantastic in this film. If you have 20 minutes to spare, I hope youll watch this one. Its not a masterpiece, per se, but its clever, witty, and tons of fun, and its one of my favorite short films.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:55:47 +0000