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A.O. Scott weighs in on Made in U.S.A.

I think I've finally come to a point where I can appreciate Godard, after 3 years. I recently rediscovered several of his 60's films and was able to find value in them that I wasn't able to previously. On previous viewings I found most aspects of them tedious and possibly lacking in honest artistic expression, but after more or less pretending they didn't exist for a while, somehow I've come to a point where I can honestly say I enjoy them.

Reading through this thread, I agree with most of the points on both sides. I think his style does lend itself to being enamored of by the hopelessly pretentious, and I can see the link between that result and the man's approach to life and filmmaking. But I also feel that to a certain extent I understand what he was trying to do and the validity of it, and that he does have artistic integrity, though it's not been the kind I've valued as much in the past. I'm going to try and take in as many of his films as I can now that I'm really open to it. Who knows, I may be a total convert.

AO Scott is retarded. Made in USA is one of Godard's few masterpieces.

Extraits from the Fleischer film on JLG here

Barmy wrote:AO Scott is retarded. Made in USA is one of Godard's few masterpieces.

AOS is unknowingly correct insofar as JLG devoted half the day to making MADE in USA and the other half to making DEUX OU TROIS CHOSES QUE JE SAIS D'ELLE-so it is probably demi-tasse Godard... Question I suppose is the glass half full or half empty?...

I believe that's a myth. I think Godard interrupted his preproduction of 2 or 3 Things to make Made In USA, leaving only the end to be completed during the time he was actually shooting 2 or 3 Things.

cinemartin wrote:I believe that's a myth. I think Godard interrupted his preproduction of 2 or 3 Things to make Made In USA, leaving only the end to be completed during the time he was actually shooting 2 or 3 Things.

A 'myth'!?... It's in Colin MacCabe's well researched 'Godard @ 70' and he tells same story on MADE IN USA R2 intro...

Where is your evidence and further info?...

Brody and several other sources say it's myth. Apparently there's proof they were shot months apart.

The quality of JLGs cinema is in inverse order to the amount of time/effort he spent on same. That's why his best films include King Lear, Les Carabiniers and Made in USA. The films where he tries too hard tend to be dated and generally oppressive and unbearable.

Szabo is probably my favorite Godard regular. Jesus, I'll say it again-- the man barely ages!

László Szabó wrote:He was very generous to me. When I directed my first film, he wrote about it, it’s in his book, The Films of My Life, And I was very proud to see myself among all the other directors he wrote about, Nick Ray, Cocteau...Very proud.

Speaking of which, has anyone here ever seen the said film, Les Gants blancs du diable. I know Truffaut compares it positively to Kiss Me Deadly in the book, and I've long had the wonderful soundtrack and admired the film's great poster art. Yet, I've never been able to track down anything about the film beyond a few VHS covers.

László Szabó wrote:COMMITING SACRILEGE
Geraldine Chaplin and I had some long scenes together in Rivette’s Love on the Ground. And one day, we shared a car back to our hotel. And she told me “My father, in Switzerland, before dinner, would screen an hour’s worth of his films for us children. He would be there in the projection room every night before dinner.” The devil was in me that evening… so, just to play, I said to her, “Your father was great, but for me the greatest cinema comic is Buster Keaton.” She said, “WHAT?” I backed off right away, I told her, no, I was joking. I was joking, but I think they are equally great.

I'd pay good money to see Geraldine Chaplin's reaction.

accatone wrote:Extraits from the Fleischer film on JLG here

J.-P. Tessé | Cahiers on the film

(edit: somehow the link does not go straight to the text - however, not too hard to find…)

Bresson on Godard:

"His films are interesting. He upsets the official cinema, which cares only for profits. He taught films how to use disorder."

"When he uses professional actors, I don't like his films, but when he doesn't, he makes the best that can be seen."

A few weeks ago, I whirled through a Godard phase and in the end, I decided he wasn't all that remarkable. Except for Breathless, I enjoyed some of its aspects, its jazzy mood.

Now it's Bresson's turn. Man, he keeps flooring me. His films are impossibly affecting. I watched Au hasard Balthazar last week and I remain shattered. Is there cinema-poetry as pure as Bresson's? I have said this about various filmmakers before, how poetic their films are. There's something so pure about Bresson's poetry that makes it stand above all the filmmakers in history.

Michael wrote:Is there cinema-poetry as pure as Bresson's? I have said this about various filmmakers before, how poetic their films are. There's something so pure about Bresson's poetry that makes it stand above all the filmmakers in history.

I would be very interested to hear you expand on this a bit, Michael, specifically with regard to what you mean by "pure." It's one of those words that has many subtle but very substantially different connotations. There are different kinds of purity, and for that matter different kinds of poetry. For instance, the first filmmaker who came to my mind when I thought about the phrase "pure poetry" was Jacques Tati.

I'm still wrapped around Au hasard Balthazar (the best Bresson I've seen) so I'm going to focus on this film. Not one syllable of images is wasted in Balthazar. It's not cluttered in any way, Bresson never left me an impression that he was trying hard to say something or to ram anything in our face. Its images are true and clear, so simple and pure that they burn right through you. How can anyone forget Gerard's hand reaching Marie's hand on the bench? Or Balthazar alone with trees framing him before resigning for good? And it's really miraculous how much space there are in between all the images of Balthazar, the same kind of impression I get from great poetry. The opening and closing of doors throughout the film gives out a very lovely visual rhythym, one of many examples. Days after, I could hear and see the doors opening and closing - its sheer simplicity, matching the mystery and magic of every breath we take every day - that's pure poetry to me.

Interesting that you brought up Tati. Bresson admired Tati a great deal. I can see some things those two directors have in common.

I would love to add more but today I'm an emotional wreck, just having scheduled to put my dog to sleep this afternoon.. and with that image of Balthazar in the pasture still fixated in my heart. But I will be happy to return to this discussion in the future.

For anyone interested I just ordered the current issue of the US magazine The Believer (March/April 2009, "The 2009 Film Issue")which includes the DVD called "JLG in USA".

Holy shit, that sounds amazing. You can get it for $8 from Amazon

Thanks for the heads up. I'd have never found out about that.

Ovader wrote:*For anyone interested I just ordered the current issue of the US magazine The Believer (March/April 2009, "The 2009 Film Issue") which includes the DVD called "JLG in USA".

domino harvey wrote:Holy shit, that sounds amazing. You can get it for $8 from Amazon

Brilliant! thanks, will be ordering

-edit- I couldn`t find it on amazon, so I tried to order it directly from the site. Guess I won`t be ordering it anymore:

The Believer 2009 Film Issue $10.00 1 $10.00
Total Purchases $10.00
Shipping & Handling $60.72
Total Payment $70.72

$ 60, for shipping is a bit too much for my liking

I am in LA at the moment and will hopefully catch a copy at one of the "stylish" places…uuuuuhhhh…this city is sooooo…american? at least the car driving nation cliché now finally and forever makes sense to me. We went to a bar(!) in long beach last night and // surprise surprise - had to drive 40minutes to get there…uuughhh....i moved to a big city for a living in germany to be able to get to places easily but this is totally insane (i have been to some east coast cities and SF so i know its probably just an LA thang') - hhmm, i am slightly off topic.

Search on Amazon for "believer 09" in the books section (but not "2009")-- it's the Mar/Apr issue and doesn't have a cover up yet

I ordered the individual issue directly from the site than through Amazon since it was slightly cheaper to send to Canada.

I was thinking about making a thread on La Chinoise, but Thread Making is reserved only for The Beautiful People, innit?

Anyway, it's a bit up it's own arse, this one. It's the first Godard I've viewed where I feel that he is bashing me over the head. Yes, we get it Jean-Luc: This Is How You Feel. Still, it fascinates. The acting is so natural, I feel transported to a 1967 Paris living room, and I'm lost in the time. I want to slap them though. "Lighten up, people. Put that red book down for just one hour, goddammit. Watch Ed Sullivan." How ironic that cameras and clap-boards are purposely revealed.

Noiretirc wrote:I was thinking about making a thread on La Chinoise, but Thread Making is reserved only for The Beautiful People, innit?

Anyway, it's a bit up it's own arse, this one. It's the first Godard I've viewed where I feel that he is bashing me over the head. Yes, we get it Jean-Luc: This Is How You Feel. Still, it fascinates. The acting is so natural, I feel transported to a 1967 Paris living room, and I'm lost in the time. I want to slap them though. "Lighten up, people. Put that red book down for just one hour, goddammit. Watch Ed Sullivan." How ironic that cameras and clap-boards are purposely revealed.

Do we get how he feels? My theory was that through his use of politics Godard was more interested in the success of the language and rhetoric as opposed to the policy or morals. I'm not sure if he was a leftist. I think he just studied the left.

I feel like this conversation always comes up on this forum and I keep contributing the same argument each time. Does anyone else have this problem?