Film Socialisme: New Cinema; Little Sense

Film Socialisme

Written and Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard

Directors of Photography: Fabrice Aragno and Paul Grivas

Rated: Not Rated, but the only offense is one of comprehensibility.

            When I attended last year’s New York Film Festival public screening of Film Socialisme, Jean-Luc Godard’s latest, and perhaps final statement, on cinema, I counted about fifty walk outs. These people weren’t walking out because the violence was too graphic, or the characters too misogynistic, or its political statements. They walked because of the form. Since 1968, Mr. Godard, director of Breathless, perhaps the most important film in the second half of the medium’s history, has become increasingly more abstract, fighting against normative traditions of not only Hollywood but also all of cinema. A staunch Marxist, who rarely gives interviews (and skipped the film’s Cannes premiere in 2010, providing an ambiguous statement about the political situation in Greece), Mr. Godard has gone from riding the top of the new wave and landed somewhere in land so far that no one is sure where he is.

            Certainly, one can’t even begin to describe Film Socialisme, which has no narrative to even begin to speak of, and instead is a collection of scenes, footage, sounds, ideas, and themes that are simply clashed onto each other. To add to that difficulty, the film’s characters speak mostly in French (though there is some German, Russian, Yiddish, and Arabic), and the subtitles are not translations, but a few chosen words used to represent the possible meaning, or as Mr. Godard has stated, “Navajo English,” a reference to the poor English spoken by Native Americans in Hollywood Westerns (film critic Glen Kenny pointed out they resemble Twitter hashtags).

            Now it would be easy—quite easy—to have joined those walk outs. The film isn’t fun per say, it’s an academic experience, where one must be constantly interpreting image and sound placement in order to create ideas. So when I sat down (pen and paper ready), I took on Mr. Godard’s challenge, to understand what he was trying to say—about politics, cinema, history, philosophy, you name it. To create my enjoyment, I wrote down a number of observations on what was going on, and then looked over those notes to try and create meaning. Film Socialisme is full of academic references that will go over even the most astute viewers’ heads, and thus a full explanation could only be made by Mr. Godard. So in my own “fuck you” to Film Socialisme (as Mr. Godard has no plans on making anyone actually enjoy watching his films), I present THE interpretation of the film. It’s not the right one, but it’s the only one that matters to me, because Mr. Godard has created this film and wants me to respond. So if I am wrong, he can make another film telling me how I am wrong.

NYFF Review: Film Socialisme

Film Socialisme

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Switzerland and France

            During last Wednesday’s public screening of Film Socialisme, Jean-Luc Godard’s latest, and perhaps final statement, on cinema, I counted about fifty walk outs.These people weren’t walking out because the violence was too graphic, or the characters too misogynistic, or its political statements. They walked because of the form. Since 1968, Mr. Godard, director of Breathless, perhaps the most important film in the second half of the medium’s history, has become increasingly more abstract, fighting against normative traditions of not only Hollywood but also all of cinema. A staunch Marxist, who rarely gives interviews (and skipped the film’s Cannes premiere in 2010, providing an ambiguous statement about the political situation in Greece), Mr. Godard has gone from riding the top of the new wave and landed somewhere in land so far that no one is sure where he is.

            Certainly, one can’t even begin to describe Film Socialisme, which has no narrative to even begin to speak of, and instead is a collection of scenes, footage, sounds, ideas, and themes that are simply clashed onto each other. To add to that difficulty, the film’s characters speak mostly in French (though there is some German, Russian, Yiddish, and Arabic), and the subtitles are not translations, but a few chosen words used to represent the possible meaning, or as Mr. Godard has stated, “Navajo English,” a reference to the poor English spoken by Native Americans in Hollywood Westerns (film critic Glen Kenny pointed out they resemble Twitter hashtags).

            Now it would be easy—quite easy—to have joined those walk outs. The film isn’t fun per say, it’s an academic experience, where one must be constantly interpreting image and sound placement in order to create ideas. So when I sat down (pen and paper ready), I took on Mr. Godard’s challenge, to understand what he was trying to say—about politics, cinema, history, philosophy, you name it. To create my enjoyment, I wrote down a number of observations on what was going on, and then looked over those notes to try and create meaning. Film Socialisme is full of academic references that will go over even the most astute viewers’ heads, and thus a full explanation could only be made by Mr. Godard. So in my own “fuck you” to Film Socialisme (as Mr. Godard has no plans on making anyone actually enjoy watching his films), I present THE interpretation of the film. It’s not the right one, but it’s the only one that matters to me, because Mr. Godard has created this film and wants me to respond. So if I am wrong, he can make another film telling me how I am wrong.

Line-Up for the 48th Annual New York Film Festival!!

While less skewed than last year's festival, The 48th New York Film Festival once again went with big art house names, but in a response to their last year fiasco, have went decidedly for stars for their big hitters. While The Social Network and The Tempest had already been announced, promising stars like Justin Timberlake, Helen Mirren, and Russell Brand, the closing night selection is another American hard-hitter, Hereafter, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Matt Damon. 


This shouldn't be too much of a surprise—Changeling was the Centerpiece two years ago, and the Film Society just completed a full retrospective on Eastwood. It has not been announced whether this will be a world premiere It will be a US Premiere, meaning the film might show up at London or Venice? This is still a strong launching pad for Warner Bros and another Eastwood Oscar campaign.


As for the rest of the fest, the five films I called shoe-ins were certainly chosen, and a few of the other like-lys as well. We've got Godard (chances of showing up: 0% Film Society has announced a critics panel instead), Kiarostami, "Joe," Leigh, Richardt, and Assayass (who doesn't love sitting for five hours of cinema?). Two flicks from Romania, both which showed up at Cannes (including Christi Puiu's follow-up to The Death of Mr. Lazerescu). Inside Job, the second film from Fullbright scholar Charles Ferguson—whose No End in Sight is a particularly excellent doc. 


Some of the rest are either black holes in my film knowledge or simply black holes due out by people like Scott Foundas and Richard Pena. We'll find out more about them when the official press release comes out later today (Film Society gave the NYTimes the early peek, as always). Until them, start your cinephelia salivating!


UPDATE: Two retrospectives have been announced—Fernando de Fuentes's "Revolution Trilogy" and the films of Masahido Shinoda (If you haven't seen Pale Flower, you are really missing out)


FINAL UPDATE: I checked with the Film Society on how Film Socialisme will be present—The subtitles are not actual translations, but put into dialogue similar to how Native American speak in Westerns. Richard Pena has confirmed (via FilmLinc's Twitter!) that it will be "same print as Cannes & subs an aesthetic element for Godard...if sometimes frustrating for non French speakers." For those who don't speak French, let's get to a class soon!


Opening Night: The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
Centerpiece: The Tempest (Julie Taymour, USA)
Closing Night: Hereafter (Clint Eastwood, USA)


AND THE REST:


Another Year (Mike Leigh, United Kingdom)
Aurora (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
Black Venus (Abdellatif Kechiche, France)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, France/Italy)
Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson, USA)
Le Quattro Volte (Michaelangelo Frammartino, Italy)
Lennon NYC (Michael Epstein, USA)
Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, USA)
My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa, Ukraine/Germany)
Mysteries of Libson (Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France)
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois, France)
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
Old Cats (Sebastian Silva, Chile)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larrain, Chile/Mexico/Germany)
Revolucion (Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Embecke, Amat Escalate, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Pla, Carlos Reygadas, Patricia Riggen, Mexico)
The Robber (Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany)
Robinson in Ruins (Patrick Keiller, UK)
Silent Souls (Alexei Fedorchenko, Russia)
The Strange Case of Angelica, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal)
Tuesday After Christmas (Radu Muntean, Romania)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul "Joe," UK/Thailand)
We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico)