Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, 2010)

[Oedipax]

I wonder what camera Godard used to shoot this. The girl's likely holding a Sony PD170, so maybe Godard was also using Sony... or the HVX200A...

Looks cleaner to me than any HVX200 stuff I've seen, except for some of the low light interiors, like the restaurant and the hotel rooms. Maybe a Sony F23 or F950 with something tinier/more prosumer for certain things?

[Nothing]

This one looks like it will re-establish JLG as the greatest living filmmaker, a title he temporarily ceded to Kiarostami, and cement his place as the most important since Griffith.

Godard has held that mantle since the death of Antonioni in 2007 (not on the basis on his recent work). Ridiculous to consider Kiarostami in the same breath...

[King Prendergast]

This one looks like it will re-establish JLG as the greatest living filmmaker, a title he temporarily ceded to Kiarostami, and cement his place as the most important since Griffith.

Godard has held that mantle since the death of Antonioni in 2007 (not on the basis on his recent work). Ridiculous to consider Kiarostami in the same breath...

Not so ridiculous when you consider that Godard himself so much as passed the torch to Kiarostami when said that cinema ends with AK. Antonioni, on the other hand, stopped being relevant around the time of Zabriski.

[domino harvey]

Well, I guess I'm going to be that guy: I'm very turned off by how this video footage looks. My only hope is that this is going to be color-timed and adjusted to look more like film and less like it does in the trailer, because otherwise: Oof.

[Oedipax]

Well, I guess I'm going to be that guy: I'm very turned off by how this video footage looks. My only hope is that this is going to be color-timed and adjusted to look more like film and less like it does in the trailer, because otherwise: Oof.

I wouldn't hold my breath. If Godard wanted film, he'd shoot film - he's shooting video because he wants it to look like video, without the refilming + color manipulation he used on Eloge de l'amour. I mean, it's also 16x9! Just that in itself really signals he's up to something different here, no one's been more steadfast in continuing to shoot 1.37:1.

Just be thankful it's progressive

[kaujot]

I agree with Domino on this one, but then I've not liked any of Godard's work from 1990 and on. Notre Musique, ouch.

[justeleblanc]

Godard has held that mantle since the death of Antonioni in 2007 (not on the basis on his recent work). Ridiculous to consider Kiarostami in the same breath...

Godard was never second fiddle to Antonioni... and neither was Contempt.

[knives]

I'll third that the trailer doesn't look all that great. Even though it isn't the worst, far from it, DV (that is what he's using?) I've seen.

[Nothing]

Godard himself so much as passed the torch to Kiarostami when said that cinema ends with AK.

His name is Godard, not God... He disappeared up his own arse sometime around the mid-80s too.

If we're going to treat Godard quotes with any seriousness however, I believe the best / most apt one he ever came up with (I can't remember the exact words and will have to paraphrase) is that it was a sadness to him that he was only able to make intellectual commentaries on cinema rather than cinema itself - real cinema being the likes of Bresson, Ophuls, Sirk, Tarkovsky (and Antonioni). I agree with this wholeheartedly, although I will add that Godard is utterly unique, he has explored the language of the medium perhaps more thoroughly than any other director and he certainly holds a vital place within the canon. Week End and Numero Deux are the masterpieces, for me.

[King Prendergast]

Any and all talk of what is "real cinema" and what isn't is reductive and stupid.

[Nothing]

Tell that to Godard. Ask him what he sees in the Iranian poseur whilst you're at it (or maybe he was talking about Akira Kurosawa)

[Oedipax]

For those in need of subtitles (myself included) someone in the comments section here provided a somewhat rough translation (if Mr. Keller is reading, maybe he can clean some of this up):

the woman : "this poor Europe. they didn't purify but corrupted by suffering. They didn't make exhaltation but humiliated by re-conquered freedom"

THINGS (des choses)

the boy with the green tshirt : "silence is gold"

GOLD (de l'or)

the woman : "existing through all these new shapes, the geometry"

BASTARDS (des salauds)

STORIES (des histoires)

EGYPT

the man : "Islam is East's West"

PALESTINE

the girl : "Without having see Europe happy again. Without having see the word Russia again. And the word Happyness"

ODESSA

HELL AS -> it's a language game like Godard loves : when you say HELL AS, it sounds like hélàs wich means something like "unfortunately" in French

NAPOLI

the man : "Or living, or tell. We haven't the choice.
the girl : "I tell. 1789, night of August, 4.".

BARCELONA

LYRICS (des paroles)

ANIMALS (des animaux)

the boy : " I would attack the sun too, if one day he'd attack me"

CHILDREN (des enfants)

the voice "Ten minutes, I'll fix it."

LEGENDS (des légendes)

[Antoine Doinel]

In this article about Wild Bunch's slate of films at Cannes, it's revealed that Patti Smith has a role in the film. It also seems to indicate that the film is still shooting.

Jean-Luc Godard is currently shooting Socialism, which is being billed as a symphony in three movements and mixes an international set of characters on a cruise ship including a Moscow policeman, a war criminal of unknown origins, a French philosopher, an American singer (played by Patti Smith), a Palestinian ambassador and a former double agent.

[Dadapass]

Patti Smith has a role in the film

She can be seen in the trailer.

[cantinflas]

A lot of new information found here at the Wild Bunch site

[Oedipax]

Credited to 7 directors, only two of which are JLG and Anne-Marie Miéville!

Also, looks like Juliette Binoche isn't included.

[Dadapass]

The same trailer but someone has added subtitles

[jackford]

Well, Jan. 10 has come and gone. Any new news on this? The Vega Film website seems to have gone down...

[cantinflas]

Well, Jan. 10 has come and gone. Any new news on this? The Vega Film website seems to have gone down...

This site says it's released on January 20.

[accatone]

Looks weird - but like 1 new "trailer":
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFabrizio ... qDiq31Icr0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(on top right)

edit: its just one new trailer…

[Murdoch]

I wonder if that trailer is the entire film in fast-forward.

[accatone]

The first thing that came to my mind too…just that the typfaces are added onto the "final cut".

[Oedipax]

I wonder if that trailer is the entire film in fast-forward.

Seems like it! If so, this film appears to end with a film essay/montage the same way Notre Musique began.

Looks like all available light to me; you can really see some of the low light scenes on the ship giving the cameras hell trying to keep up, some very crunchy/noisy images indeed.

I like this approach to trailers a lot, although I can recall seeing it done at least once before, on Lisandro Alonso's La Libertad ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4Cvk9SJ2c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) although that used non-source music rather than sped-up audio.

[colinr0380]

Agreed on it seeming to be the entire film, though it looks like the scenes are playing back to front too (in other words beginning with a montage and ending on the boat).

Love the animals (Chris Marker might enjoy the cats!), and I can't wait to see how the llama fits into it all!

I wonder if "De l'or" (under footage of gambling machines throwing out gold) is also an allusion to Jacques Delors?

[Oedipax]

Yep, upon further review it does appear to be backwards. If you download the video from youtube (using whatever means necessary! ) you can step through a frame at a time and have a look at the end credits and glean some additional info on the music used, the cameras, the film clips (including Weekend!), and so on.