R.I.P. Jean-Luc Godard

[Heksagon]

Seminal director of the French New Wave. I discovered his films when I was in my late teens, and it was an eye opener on what cinema could accomplish.

Having said that, I haven't liked his films that much in my later years. Probably I should rewatch some of the films that impressed me so much back then, but currently I feel that there was a genius working inside Godard, but he made his films too hastily too fully take advantage of that. Instead of taking his time perfecting each film, he often seemed to finish them off quickly and then move on to the next idea.

[dws1982]

Not a fan of Godard's, although I did make some decent money, back around 10-ish years ago, up-selling some of his films when Criterion took them out of print.

[Mister Tee]

Obviously a huge figure in 20th century cinema, but I have somewhat mixed feelings about him. While I completely love a few of his films (Breathless, Band of Outsiders, Weekend) and have some affection for others (Contempt, Alphaville), I never looked forward to his films the way I did Truffaut's. Damien once wrote that there was nothing worse than a bad Altman movie, and I'd say the same about a bad Godard film: both Pierrot le Fou and Every Man for Himself I found excruciating experiences. Especially in later years, he seemed too much in love with deconstructionism, which made his films ever-popular with academics but too often, to me, they felt like navel-gazing exercises.

However...at his peak, he changed the contours of film, and for that he of course rates a major salute.

[anonymous1980]

Story.

A giant. I believe he was the last of the French New Wave directors, no?