October 15th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
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Like French filmmakers? I hope you do Stockahz 'cause otherwise ya got squat to choose from on the rep film circuit today. Cinematic swag to be had this October Tuesday includes Omar Sharif's first big step onto the world cinema stage and Godard's initial shot fired in the Nouvelle Vague. Continuing series include the Film Society's exhaustive (literally) Godard huggery, Film Forum's Jacques Demy retropsective, and MoMA's annual To Save and Project. Let the Frogteur roll call commence!
Film Society of Lincoln Center
FIRST NAME: CARMEN (1983) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
PIERROT LE FOU (1965) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
LA GAI SAVOIR (1969) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
TOUT VA BIEN (1972) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF (1980) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
PASSION (1982) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
VLADIMIR & ROSA (1971) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
A MARRIED WOMAN (1964) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Film Forum
BAY OF ANGELS (1963) Dir; Jacques Demy
LADY OSCAR (1979) Dir; Jacques Demy
MoMA
GOHA (1958) Dir; Jacques Baratier
Mon choix aujourd'hui? As aggravating, pretentious and pseudo-intellectually arrogant I find the majority of his oeuvre, Jean-Luc Godard's directorial debut BREATHLESS (screening at the Walter Reade Theater) so bursts with anarchic charm lo these 54 years later that even I, an avowed disliker of its maker, fall under its spell every time it unspools. I maintain this first time out was the only time the director was able to unabashedly pour the entirety of his love for the cinema onto celluloid, might I add gorgeous B&W celluloid, courtesy of legendary DP Raoul Coutard. It's success sadly merely guaranteed the world further examples of Godard's hubris, not his passion, and yes there would be several more instances of iconic imagery and action to come, but he'd never again create something as simply beautiful as Jean-Paul Belmondo's on-the-make Michel following Jean Seberg's Patricia down the Champs Elysees as she hawks copies of the New York Herald Tribune. An ode to classic Hollywood cinema made with the spirit of upheaval, of youth rewriting the rules, filmed in a city famous for its bloody and romantic revolution, the film is groundbreaking and undoubtedly important to the cinematic timeline. Yet it is self-contained as well, so should you not be as obsessed with the history of cinema as some of us poor depraved souls you'll still, I believe, find yourself in thrall to the hip swagger and sway of this valentine to the movies. Oh to be young, bullet-ridden and smoking your last breath in Paris.
For more info on these and all classic film screenings in NYC click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Ketchyamanana with a new Pick, til then safe and sound and keep an eye out for the next guy/gal too!
-Joe Walsh
