Weekend
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Movie Reviews of Weekend
Movie Review: one of the -very few- Godard's I like
Summary: 4 Stars
WEEK-END
Jean-Luc Godard's WEEK-END is certainly beyond the usual egocentrism of Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) movies. In other terms, while the formers (including his BREATHLESS) deal with personal characteristic themes, WEEK-END is dominated by philosophical, cultural, social, and geopolitical themes. It's a franc satire of the Parisian upper-class but more importantly it's a dark view of the modern civilization's self decay, materialism, apathy, terrorism, and violence. And though the movie has the protagonists -like most nouvelle vague- as "anti-heroes", it's more adequately classified as a post-modern work, approaching very similar (if not the same) territories explored mainly by Bergman (movies like Shame, Passion of Anna) and to a lesser width in Antonioni's trilogy in that same era (mid-late 60's). While Bergman approached these themes in a sinister, philosophical (i.e. Bergmanesque) manner, Godard used his usual raw humor adding some surrealistic escapades in a direct tribute to Bunuel (even a section of the movie is titled EXTERMINATING ANGELS).
Symbolism is also a crucial element in this work: Cars -a classical Godard fetish- are all over the place, in all possible states (turned upside down, exploded, dysfunctional...) as a metaphor for "modernism", the domination of the three main French national colors (blue/red/white) is obvious...etc
Technically speaking, on a first glimpse, Jean-Luc Godard's WEEKEND may seem like a regular Film Noir centered on an upper-class Parisian couple. The initial scenes have a dark-lighting quality and a remarkable over-use (on purpose) of a very Hollywoodish , overzealous, melodramatic musical score.
One of my favorite scenes in this movie (and even in all of Godard's) is the traffic scene that takes place after fifteen minutes of the start and lasts for good ten minutes. Godard staged the complex scene beautifully; his camera tracks the main car, spans in and out smartly.
Godard's love for experimentation is hard to miss here: characters unrelated to the main narration emerge from different times (the French revolution) break the fourth wall by talking to the camera directly. A pianist actually playing live -non dubbed- Mozart in a farm. The director interrupts the narration very frequently by projecting titles that play on words and with multi-layered symbolism, he wanted to make it clear that it's only a movie. I personally enjoyed those "word plays" initially but half-way through the movie they exceeded my patience, but again maybe it's because I'm aware that I'm dealing with a Godard and usually I'm very impatient when watching his works.
Surprisingly, the US DVD edition (NEW YORKER VIDEO) isn't bad at all, with a very useful audio commentary by critic David Sterritt, an interview with the movie cinematographer Raoul Coutard, and input from director Mike Figgis.
I think WEEK-END is one of the director's best. I enjoyed it more than his other highly- acclaimed works (Alphaville, Contempt, Tout Va Bien, Breathless....), and I recommend it even to whoever is -like me- not a fan of Godard at all.
Movie Review: Hilarious
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm surprised by how few people wrote about the comedy of this piece. The movie makes fun of the philosophical ideas as much as it celebrates them. The near meaningless spouting of politics by the Hippies is just some guy getting into the groove, much like the drummer accompanying him. A character rambles about the beauty and power of Mozart, but it is impossible for the sonata to hold our attention for ten minutes. The pianist in the end just blames it on his poor playing. The tone is too sarchasitic and wacky for me to actually believe that Goddard meant this to be a serious presentation of ideas. Either Godard failed (Oh no, can it be so!) or the endless poetry and political ramblings are meant to funny. I think I'll go for the latter, because it makes the film much more enjoyable.Movie Review: expect to be both entertained and bored
Summary: 4 Stars
this film is full of good ideas. but theyre unstructured and ultimately unengaging. I like good ideas so im being generous with my four star rating.
like alphaville - i wish a daring film maker would have the guts to do a remake and develop this film until it reaches its true potential.
this film is more like a brilliant sketchpad than an actual work of art.
P.S. i noticed that the sex monologue was "inspired" by Bataille's Story of the Eye. and there were other areas seemingly inspired by Maldoror and Shaw's Man and SUperman.
Movie Review: The Other Red Meat
Summary: 3 Stars
Of recent I have watched a number of the films of Jean-Luc Godard. There have been some that I have enjoyed quite a bit--Masculin, féminin--and some that I believe I could have gone without watching--Pierrot le fou--however, being that I am fascinated with the French New Wave movement and cinema from the 1960s in genera, I shall continue to plug away watching Godard's films. After writing my review on Masculin, féminin, an acquaintance suggested that I give Godard's 1967 film Weekend a try. Now, I have heard of this film before in association with a film titles Fando and Lis, a film which I consider to be one of the worst films ever created, so I wasn't too keen on watching the film, but since I can watch the film for free in my university's library, I decided to give it a shot.
After watching the first twenty minutes or so of the film, I understood why it was listed with the atrocity I mentioned above. Weekend revolves around the couple Corinne and Roland, a not so loving couple who constantly wish that the other will die. However, they are more concerned with the deaths of Corinne's parents whose demise will give them a sizeable amount of money. Having poisoned Corinne's father slower over a long period of time, it seems that finally the old man's death is imminent so the couple heads off to the family home to prevent the will from being changed at the last moment. However, things will not fall into place quite so easily for Corinne and Roland. Instead of a quick trip, they encounter car wreck after car wreck each which impedes their progress. If that wasn't bad enough they even encounter cannibal guerillas. So is life.
I have heard that two of the most common reactions to Godard's Weekend are, one, fuller realization of the power of cinema as an art and utter boredom. I fell somewhere in between, meaning, I was bored, but I could appreciate some of Godard's objectives in making this film. Like many of his other films from around this same time period, Weekend has a highly political edge and it tackles such issues as the bourgeoisie versus the working class and the struggles of minorities versus the majority, but it is also evident that Godard had become a bit pessimistic by the time he made this film because parts of it seem to mock his previous films. The only people whom I could recommend this film to are those who are fans of the French New Wave and, while keeping that in mind, I can almost assure the viewer that he or she will not want to hear a car's horn for a very long time afterward.
Movie Review: Not Breathless
Summary: 3 Stars
Nobody seems to have given this film 3 stars yet, so I'm the first. I feel it's just slightly better than 2 stars, but definitely not 4. Frankly, I got the feeling that Godard was simply coasting along, simply chucking at the audience the next thing that came into his cluttered head. They can work out some sort of pattern to it for themselves, if they want to be bothered. Is this all surrealism is, in the end? There are two interviews that come with the features. One is with Mike Figgis, who treats us to an esoteric interpretation which can only barely be understood: anything that the viewer might perceive as a flaw in the film is held up as a virtue. This is apparently because the genius Godard is "distancing" himself, and the film itself, both from its subject and the viewer. Well, maybe. The other interview is with the photographer. It looks like Godard was in a filthy mood with everybody when he was making the film, especially the producer and the leading actress. The implication was that the producer had forced the genius to use this actress against his wishes. Shades of Mulholland Drive. Some art critics think that a preliminary sketch is better than a finished picture. This may be so, but only sometimes: sometimes a picture can be over-finished, and its freshness destroyed. But there is a happy medium. No matter how surreal the final product, there does need to be an underlying cohesion, if the audience is to be genuinely impressed and feel some sense of satisfaction. I don't think it will wash to argue that the ultimate intention is to dissatisfy. This is an objective which is far too easy to achieve. So capitalism doesn't work: what are you going to put in its place? For the last 2000 years it's been said that democracy is not a good system of government --- it's merely that the other systems are worse. Still, there are a number of thought-provoking ideas tossed into in this hotch-potch.