tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post4022482293101165557..comments2024-01-09T05:41:10.873-05:00Comments on The Blue Vial: Godard Marathon Day 3: Band of Outsiders (1964); A Married Woman (1964)Drew McIntoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-3896958314831649882010-03-10T22:57:28.179-05:002010-03-10T22:57:28.179-05:00Thanks for the great advice Ed, that definitely gi...Thanks for the great advice Ed, that definitely gives me something to keep in mind. It's nice to hear those films won't lose that specific edge that makes the 60's stuff so enjoyable.<br /><br /><i>Vladimir and Rosa</i> is of course one that I added to my list after originally speaking with you, and I must admit it looks to be quite interesting.<br /><br />I think the only overtly political film of Godard's I've seen to date is <i>Le Gai Savoir</i>, which left me quite honestly flew right over my head, though I admired it aesthetically. Obviously I'll be giving that one another go here shortly, it should be interesting to see if I get any more out of it.Drew McIntoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-35662273191388526382010-03-10T22:16:03.092-05:002010-03-10T22:16:03.092-05:00I think the best way to approach Godard's more...I think the best way to approach Godard's more political work is to just see it as an extension of the formalist and playful elements in his other work. Although Godard's more didactic moments can be a bit trying, he never truly gives up on the wit and visual brilliance that characterize his more widely acclaimed 60s classics. And his intelligence and refusal to stop thinking prevents these films from ever truly becoming mere preachy political sermons. Some of the DVG films are mainly interesting as formal exercises, it's true, but there are some gems there, too: <i>Vladimir and Rosa</i> is pretty damn fun, if fun is the right word for a film about the Chicago Seven trial.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-49863486880784120042010-03-10T21:51:16.815-05:002010-03-10T21:51:16.815-05:00Great to hear from you Ed, thanks for the comments...Great to hear from you Ed, thanks for the comments. Everything you've said about <i>Band of Outsiders</i> is certainly true, and I do appreciate it for its fun and charming vibe, I just unfortunately wasn't as struck by it as you guys were. Maybe down the line it's one I'll return to and find more love for.<br /><br />Thanks for the warning Jake. I've had a bit of a taste of the later political films, and found them quite mystifying to say the least. However while I'm looking forward to both <i>Pierrot le Fou</i> and Masculin feminin, I like you am kind of hesitant about approaching the Dziga Vertov period stuff. Hopefully the Brody book will shed some light on them, as by all accounts they sound like works that will be fairly beyond my grasp. However it's all part of the process of appreciating the arc of Godard's career, which is my ultimate goal with all of this.Drew McIntoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-51557008236926455822010-03-10T21:13:56.858-05:002010-03-10T21:13:56.858-05:00Ed's post (not to mention of course your revie...Ed's post (not to mention of course your review) reminds me that I need to order the Masters of Cinema Blu-Ray from the UK. The region-free disc for Sunrise was astonishing, and that was a silent film. The screencaps I've seen look terrific.<br /><br />As for the political content of Godard's films, you might want to strap in now, Drew. Pierrot le fou draws together most of the magic of Godard's genre pictures and puts it to a bizarrely yet magnificently nihilistic-Romantic film informed by growing political unrest, and Masculin féminin really builds on A Married Woman structural politics. I would consider both masterpieces, but I'm increasingly dreading hitting those Dziga Vertov years.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-28435845645426497282010-03-10T21:03:12.145-05:002010-03-10T21:03:12.145-05:00Sorry I haven't been around much for this seri...Sorry I haven't been around much for this series so far, but it's been a busy few days. I like <i>Band of Outsiders</i> much more than you do. In comparison to the rest of Godard's oeuvre, it lacks the restless experimentation of his other work, but like Jake I find it a delight, purely fun and charming, in large part because it's an opportunity to enjoy Godard's playful streak unalloyed by the more intellectual and darker elements running through a lot of his other films.<br /><br />I'm glad you loved <i>A Married Woman</i> so much, though. I've been saying forever that it's possibly the most underrated of Godard's 60s films, and I'm not sure why that is, except that it's a real transitional work and, of course, that it's been unavailable on DVD in the US other than shoddy bootlegs. It's a fantastic movie, though, formalist and clever, breaking up the human body to emphasize all the ways these characters are disassociated: from their identities, their bodies, their sexuality, each other.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-51966841430415386662010-03-10T21:01:50.945-05:002010-03-10T21:01:50.945-05:00And I do readily acknowledge that I'm in the m...And I do readily acknowledge that I'm in the minority when it comes to <i>Band of Outsiders</i>; I can't explain it. There's just something there keeping me from meshing with it fully. It's not like I haven't wanted to really like it, I dunno. Of course I still find it to be an admirable picture.Drew McIntoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-39695810061821854952010-03-10T20:53:08.717-05:002010-03-10T20:53:08.717-05:00Jake, your piece on A Married Woman was the only o...Jake, your piece on <i>A Married Woman</i> was the only other thing I read on it after my viewing (other than the Brody chapter), it was quite exquisite and obviously mirrored many of my own sentiments.<br /><br />I admire the hell out of Breathless, but yeah I have some issues with it too. I've been led to believe the Gere remake was...not good; I may have to check it out now when all is said and done based on your comment alone Doniphon.Drew McIntoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-70076564748141601022010-03-10T20:22:28.264-05:002010-03-10T20:22:28.264-05:00Jake, agreed on Breathless. I much prefer McBride&...Jake, agreed on Breathless. I much prefer McBride's remake with Richard Gere (yeah, I said it).Doniphonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02407443845368110678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-63829574098737946612010-03-10T20:13:21.746-05:002010-03-10T20:13:21.746-05:00Oh good, another person who finds A Married Woman ...Oh good, another person who finds A Married Woman underrated. I can't understand why it gets so little attention. I can get the low-key discussion of Le Petit Soldat, and I certainly understand why Les Carabiniers is neglected.<br /><br />Band of Outsiders though I find delightful, more so than Breathless (which actually sits almost at the bottom of my list of the Godard's I've seen, though perhaps that's because it's the one most savaged by imitators and placed on the highest pedestal who've seen content to worship Godard on that basis even as they ignore damn near everything else).Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-68511161033085908112010-03-10T19:35:23.047-05:002010-03-10T19:35:23.047-05:00Thanks for stopping by Doniphon! I am actually in ...Thanks for stopping by Doniphon! I am actually in total agreement with you as far as not really being interested the political implications of these works (which will clearly make the 70's films I have coming up a task), and I too put a premium on Godard's wonderful feel for his characters. My calling it "slight" had really nothing to do with any political or polemical aspects, but rather with it just lacking for me in many of the ways I enjoyed all of the previous films. Primarily, that I just simply found the characters to be, as I said, flat and unappealing. I'm not sure how much better I can describe it. I do still have an affection for it though, as there are many things to here to like. But I just wasn't crazy about it the first time I saw it, and went in with more than an open mind this time, and again found it underwhelming after the previous films I'd just watched<br /><br />You really should see A Married Woman. I was pretty surprised it had flown under my radar, because it's quite good and as quintessential to his 60's work as anything I've seen from that decade yet.Drew McIntoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054307044280470117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5361087063517934891.post-52047260406586561482010-03-10T18:55:36.940-05:002010-03-10T18:55:36.940-05:00It's odd because Band Of Outsiders was the fir...It's odd because Band Of Outsiders was the first Godard I ever saw (hell, it was probably one of the first "foreign films" I ever saw) and I fell absolutely in love with it. I still am. I haven't read Brody's book, but I assume he was referring to its lack of polemical thrust and political content. It's certainly among his most narratively conventional films (although it is by no means conventional), but I would use "slight" as a compliment rather than as a criticism. Although I love Godard, I am not particularly interested in the political implications of his or anyone else's cinema, and what I love about this film is how people-oriented it is, and how poetic his treatment of the characters is.<br /><br />I don't think I've seen A Married Woman, or at least I don't remember have, which is somewhat bizarre. It must be his only sixties film I haven't seen.Doniphonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02407443845368110678noreply@blogger.com