Jean-Luc Godard

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Glowingwabbit
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1026 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:42 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:25 pm
It’s driving me nuts because I can’t remember his name, but I’m sure someone will jump in with it: Godard also enjoyed that Baltimore indie director who made a movie in the late 80s consisting entirely of long scenes unfolding in uninterrupted takes. Godard utilizes clips from the segment filmed in the Inner Harbor in one of his films, and as I recall he also praised the film at whatever film festival he saw it at
Not from Baltimore, but Rob Tregenza's Talking with Strangers was shot there. It sounds like him and I know Godard praised the film.

[Edit: You beat me to it!]

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domino harvey
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1027 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:44 pm

Yeah, it was my assumption that he was a Baltimorean based on the film that was giving me trouble in searching for him!

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1028 Post by NWRdr4 » Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:00 pm

AskewWaters wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:41 pm
It's safe to assume Godard was a fan of Woody Allen as well, given the cameo he casted Woody in; playing Mr. Alien, safety-pinning strips of film together, and then leaping into a pile of them in Godard's King Lear.
His films aside (we could make plenty of reasonable influences about which directors he liked from his works—what a rabbit hole!), the only references I've found Godard make on Allen's work have curiously been negative: in a 1980 interview with Godard, Dick Cavett notes that Godard called the black-and-white cinematography of Manhattan "bad", to which Godard adds "awful" and "not good"; and, though I haven't seen it in a few years (feel free to refresh my memory!), I recall that in his own film Meetin' WA, Godard complains that Hannah and Her Sisters resembles television and criticizes Allen's "literary" use of intertitles...
domino harvey wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:41 pm
Nope. I found it: Rob Tregenza's Talking to Strangers. Here are Godard's thoughts
Thanks a bunch! This is great! Interesting to read there that he also loved Norman McLaren, a filmmaker whom Truffaut also loved.
Last edited by NWRdr4 on Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Glowingwabbit
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1029 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:01 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:44 pm
Yeah, it was my assumption that he was a Baltimorean based on the film that was giving me trouble in searching for him!
According to Jonathan Rosenbaum, Godard later produced (uncredited) Tregenza's third feature Inside/Out

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AskewWaters
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1030 Post by AskewWaters » Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:42 pm

I forgot about Meeting Woody Allen! Woody looked so uncomfortable during the entirety of that lol. I'm also overdue for a rewatch.

Not sure if it counts, and I didnt see it in your post, but Godard was infamously a Jerry Lewis fan, going so far as to compare Lewis to a painter rather than a director in a Cavett interview, and writing, ""Jerry Lewis is the only American director who makes progressive films. He is superior to Chaplin and Keaton," in Cahiers du Cinema.

I'd also argue that Godard's Soigne Droite from '87 features Godard taking prat falls in his best attempt at achieving Lewis' level of physical comedy.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1031 Post by Wilo » Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:07 am

Currently reading Richard Brody's Everything is Cinema, and I've been pleasantly surprised to find in the book references to Godard's thoughts on some contemporary filmmakers. He's said to have loved works by Carax, Gallo, and Guiraudie, among others. Now, I'm a big fan of Godard's early critical work, and Godard on Godard is a treasure to me, but it naturally only goes through the late '60s... I'm curious to see which directors and films Godard has admired in subsequent years. (Obviously many of his films themselves could be seen as lengthy works of film criticism, but I'm thinking primarily of things he's said in interviews or conversations.) I think his adoration of Kiarostami is pretty well-known at this point, but I've seen sources saying he's also praised Coppola, De Palma, Scorsese, Warhol, Cassavetes, Emshwiller, Brakhage, Fassbinder, and even Korine.
He did write a pretty effusive fan letter to Maurice Pialat regarding Van Gogh (1991):
My dear Maurice, your film is astonishing, totally astonishing; far beyond the cinematographic horizon covered up until now by our wretched gaze. Your eye is a great heart that sends the camera hurtling among girls, boys, spaces, moments in time, and colors, like childish tantrums. The ensemble is miraculous; the details, sparks of light within this miracle; we see the big sky fall and rise from this poor and simple earth. All of my thanks, to you and yours, for this success – warm, incomparable, quivering

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1032 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:12 pm

Glowingwabbit wrote:
Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:01 pm
According to Jonathan Rosenbaum, Godard later produced (uncredited) Tregenza's third feature Inside/Out
Brody's book talks about this in some detail. Godard was also supposed to appear in the film but withdrew just after shooting began, which Brody connects to the deterioration of Godard's relationship with Bérangère Allaux. Godard ended contact with Tregenza a few months later but left a message on his answering machine in 2001 regarding a "collaboration"; by the time Tregenza called back (he was out of town at the time) Godard had changed his mind.

To add to the list of modern films praised by Godard, Jesper Jargil (who's made a couple of docs about Lars von Trier) says Godard sent von Trier a letter expressing admiration for The Idiots, even though he didn't like his previous work.

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1033 Post by NWRdr4 » Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:13 pm

Thanks, everyone! This is exactly the kind of stuff I’m looking for—i.e., the kinds of articles, essays, interviews, and anecdotes lurking around the internet I wouldn’t be likely to stumble upon on my own. Good stuff, and much appreciated.

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JSC
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1034 Post by JSC » Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:49 pm

If I'm remembering this correctly, I think the Guardian did an interview with Godard about ten years ago. At the time he didn't exactly have flattering things to say about Quentin Tarantino or Michael Moore.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1035 Post by Rayon Vert » Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:59 pm

Godard liked The Brown Bunny (no surprise), I think that was in the Brody book, and it's mentioned in the Wiki article on the film.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1036 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:22 pm

Rayon Vert wrote:
Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:59 pm
Godard liked The Brown Bunny (no surprise), I think that was in the Brody book, and it's mentioned in the Wiki article on the film.
in "Une Femme est infâme" Godard put "Lubitsch" in the color-pop (blue-white-red) of the opening titles, and near the end of the movie - Godard also r"eproduced "the famous scene of "Cluny Brown" (the one Criterion choose to put on their web site for the upcoming Blu-Ray) : Anna Karina is using a wrench before taking a shower (and she seems to have as much skills as Jennifer Jones)

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1037 Post by NWRdr4 » Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:49 pm

JSC wrote:
Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:49 pm
If I'm remembering this correctly, I think the Guardian did an interview with Godard about ten years ago. At the time he didn't exactly have flattering things to say about Quentin Tarantino or Michael Moore.
Yeah, Godard really dislikes Tarantino.

After some more digging around the internet, I found out that one of Godard's favorite movies is apparently Satyajit Ray's Charulata (I don't recall there being any mention of Ray's works in Godard on Godard or any of the other major English-language books about him that I've encountered). He's also a Terence Davies fan, having called Distant Voices, Still Lives "magnificent".

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Oedipax
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1038 Post by Oedipax » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:24 pm

Purely anecdotal, but a few years back I stayed in an Airbnb in Paris where one of the hosts had been involved in film promotion and distribution in France in the 90s for the filmmaker Darezhan Omirbaev (sometimes written Omirbayev). She mentioned that one of her most prized possessions was a personal check written to her and signed by Godard for some funds to aid with one of Omirbaev's films - though unfortunately I don't recall which one. According to her, JLG was a big Omirbaev fan and helped them a number of times.

I did end up watching Kaïrat on her suggestion and enjoyed it quite a bit.

There's a quote attributed to Godard in several articles on Omirbaev across Google, but I couldn't find a direct source even when searching for the phrase in French. The quote is "l'un des cinéastes les plus étonnants qui travaillent aujourd'hui," where the adjective is translated differently in various sources as "one of the most [astonishing/surprising/outstanding] filmmakers working today."

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1039 Post by NWRdr4 » Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:33 pm

Oedipax wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:24 pm
Purely anecdotal, but a few years back I stayed in an Airbnb in Paris where one of the hosts had been involved in film promotion and distribution in France in the 90s for the filmmaker Darezhan Omirbaev (sometimes written Omirbayev). She mentioned that one of her most prized possessions was a personal check written to her and signed by Godard for some funds to aid with one of Omirbaev's films - though unfortunately I don't recall which one. According to her, JLG was a big Omirbaev fan and helped them a number of times.

I did end up watching Kaïrat on her suggestion and enjoyed it quite a bit.

There's a quote attributed to Godard in several articles on Omirbaev across Google, but I couldn't find a direct source even when searching for the phrase in French. The quote is "l'un des cinéastes les plus étonnants qui travaillent aujourd'hui," where the adjective is translated differently in various sources as "one of the most [astonishing/surprising/outstanding] filmmakers working today."
A wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it! I’d never even heard of Omirbaev till your post...

For what it’s worth, Jonathan Rosenbaum told me this evening that Godard loved Wenders’s Hammett. I also seem to recall reading that somewhere or other, though I couldn’t possibly cite any source off the top of my head...

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dda1996a
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1040 Post by dda1996a » Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:59 pm

I like the casualness with which you wrote about simply asking Rosenbaum vis a vis Godard... Are you out connection to him? (I love his book on Godard)

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furbicide
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1041 Post by furbicide » Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:20 am

Oh yeah, Kaïrat is brilliant. Can’t recommend it highly enough!

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1042 Post by NWRdr4 » Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:47 pm

dda1996a wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:59 pm
I like the casualness with which you wrote about simply asking Rosenbaum vis a vis Godard... Are you out connection to him? (I love his book on Godard)
Are you thinking of Richard Brody's book? Anyway, I don't know Rosenbaum personally—I'm just not shy about contacting intellectuals and academics with questions pertaining to their expertise when they offer their emails to the public!

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dda1996a
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1043 Post by dda1996a » Thu Aug 08, 2019 1:15 pm

NWRdr4 wrote:
Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:47 pm
dda1996a wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:59 pm
I like the casualness with which you wrote about simply asking Rosenbaum vis a vis Godard... Are you out connection to him? (I love his book on Godard)
Are you thinking of Richard Brody's book? Anyway, I don't know Rosenbaum personally—I'm just not shy about contacting intellectuals and academics with questions pertaining to their expertise when they offer their emails to the public!
Yeah, my mistake. Always confuse the two for some inexplicable reason

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1044 Post by quim_font » Thu Aug 08, 2019 5:42 pm

NWRdr4 wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:15 pm
Does anyone know other modern directors or works Godard has praised over the years? I'm especially curious: has he ever had anything positive to say about Paul Schrader's work? He and Schrader have reportedly met at least once...
Here he is on Cassavetes (Detective is dedicated to him as well): "John Cassavetes, who was more or less my age - now he was a great director. I can't imagine myself as his equal in cinema. For me he represents a certain cinema that's way up above." (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/f ... e.features)

On Jon Jost: ''Unlike almost all American directors,'' Godard has said, ''Jon Jost is not a traitor to the movies. He makes them move.''

On Fassbinder: "Then there was Fassbinder, who I feel stood alone. Like Anthaeus, who was big and strong, and tried it in his own patch, in his own garden…. And when Fassbinder died, the elders pretty much did, too, Rossellini, Hitchcock. … But they died “in their art,” if you will." (https://www.diagonalthoughts.com/?p=1978)

He also has the great line in Histoires, that goes something like, "Fassbinder, the great, who died on a overdose of creative obligations."

On Brakhage: "Not at all. We were for Hitchcock, but we were also for Shirley Clarke or John Cassavetes or Ed Emshwiller. When I read recently that an American critic wrote that Hélas pour moi looked like a Stan Brakhage picture, I was very pleased." (https://www.filmcomment.com/article/jea ... -pour-moi/)

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1045 Post by NWRdr4 » Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:51 am

quim_font wrote:
Thu Aug 08, 2019 5:42 pm
NWRdr4 wrote:
Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:15 pm
Does anyone know other modern directors or works Godard has praised over the years? I'm especially curious: has he ever had anything positive to say about Paul Schrader's work? He and Schrader have reportedly met at least once...
Here he is on Cassavetes (Detective is dedicated to him as well): "John Cassavetes, who was more or less my age - now he was a great director. I can't imagine myself as his equal in cinema. For me he represents a certain cinema that's way up above." (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/f ... e.features)

On Jon Jost: ''Unlike almost all American directors,'' Godard has said, ''Jon Jost is not a traitor to the movies. He makes them move.''

On Fassbinder: "Then there was Fassbinder, who I feel stood alone. Like Anthaeus, who was big and strong, and tried it in his own patch, in his own garden…. And when Fassbinder died, the elders pretty much did, too, Rossellini, Hitchcock. … But they died “in their art,” if you will." (https://www.diagonalthoughts.com/?p=1978)

He also has the great line in Histoires, that goes something like, "Fassbinder, the great, who died on a overdose of creative obligations."

On Brakhage: "Not at all. We were for Hitchcock, but we were also for Shirley Clarke or John Cassavetes or Ed Emshwiller. When I read recently that an American critic wrote that Hélas pour moi looked like a Stan Brakhage picture, I was very pleased." (https://www.filmcomment.com/article/jea ... -pour-moi/)
Thanks so much for this! I didn’t know about Godard liking Jon Jost!

Detective is a funny case because it’s also dedicated to Clint Eastwood—leading many to assume Godard likes his films. However, the only explicit reference I can find Godard making to Eastwood was during his 1978 lectures at Concordia University where he expressed his disdain for Eastwood’s work and called him “a complete idiot” (the translated lectures can be bought here). Either a lot changed between 1978 and 1985, or Godard’s dedication to Eastwood was decidedly more ambivalent or abstract than an outright endorsement.

If I remember correctly (I don’t have a copy of the lectures handy), Godard also said in 1978 that he didn’t like Altman’s films. Interestingly, Jacques Rivette more recently said he loved both directors.

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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1046 Post by accatone » Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:20 am


quim_font
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1047 Post by quim_font » Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:19 pm

NWRdr4 wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:51 am

Thanks so much for this! I didn’t know about Godard liking Jon Jost!

Detective is a funny case because it’s also dedicated to Clint Eastwood—leading many to assume Godard likes his films. However, the only explicit reference I can find Godard making to Eastwood was during his 1978 lectures at Concordia University where he expressed his disdain for Eastwood’s work and called him “a complete idiot” (the translated lectures can be bought here). Either a lot changed between 1978 and 1985, or Godard’s dedication to Eastwood was decidedly more ambivalent or abstract than an outright endorsement.

If I remember correctly (I don’t have a copy of the lectures handy), Godard also said in 1978 that he didn’t like Altman’s films. Interestingly, Jacques Rivette more recently said he loved both directors.
An interview with Jost, Godard 80, is an extra on the Every Man for Himself criterion.

The Seul Le Cinema episode of Histoires is dedicated to Cassavetes and Rocha, so that one's genuine, but Eastwood, like Allen, is one I've never been able to tell if Godard appreciates or not.

This quote from the lectures is interesting to me: “In seeing my films again regularly along with other people’s films what I’ve noticed is a fair bit of naïveté and a little stupidity.”

I've always felt his 60s work was a youthful prelude to his mature period, 1980-, in which his best work was done. The critical milieu seems to be coming around to this opinion, but I never knew Godard felt there was some youthful, and naive, missteps in his early period.
accatone wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:20 am
Eastwood and Godard
https://m.ina.fr/video/CPB8505083404/cl ... video.html
This seems to implying they had a project in gestation together?

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1048 Post by NWRdr4 » Fri Aug 09, 2019 5:01 pm

accatone wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:20 am
Eastwood and Godard
https://m.ina.fr/video/CPB8505083404/cl ... video.html
This is such a gem, thanks for sharing it!
quim_font wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:19 pm
This seems to implying they had a project in gestation together?
Godard considered Eastwood to play Lear. I’d presume that’s what the above video references.

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NWRdr4
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1049 Post by NWRdr4 » Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:40 pm

Reading through The Future(s) of Film: Three Interviews 2000/01 in which Godard says he "liked quite a lot" Samira Makhmalbaf's The Apple, Jean-Claude Guiguet's The Passengers, and the films of Anne-Marie Miéville. The phrasing is a bit ambiguous to me, but it seems he also liked Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense of all things. Later on, he offers some muted praise for Mendes's American Beauty ("not bad in certain respects").

In case anyone's curious, Godard also expresses "hate" for the films of Joel and Ethan Coen.

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domino harvey
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Re: Jean-Luc Godard

#1050 Post by domino harvey » Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:47 pm

Godard has said he likes “the two minutes of American Beauty where it becomes a Cassavetes film,” whatever that means

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