[atsonicpark]

Okay, here's an upload of FOUR SHORT FILMS .. this is a very shitty rip of it apparently from a screener copy or something. Seriously low quality, but it's still watchable: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R5F8VZX3 ... seriously bad quality, only for the hardcore godardites.

If you have a rapidshare account, 85 of his 93 (or some ridiculous number like that) works is available at http://www.surrealmoviez.info which you can join for free. You don't need a rapidshare account, but you know how that goes (rapidshare account having people can download more than one file at a time, for one; you don't have to wait in line, for two). Hopefully some more Godard films will come out on region 1 DVD but ... well ... nothing on the horizon!

[atsonicpark]

Like I think I said, my friend is sending me NOUVELLE VAGUE and GERMANY 90 YEARS LATER dvd-r's... also, my ex got me TOUT VA BIEN (which i'd previously rented) for x-mas. So, yeah, soon, my Godard collection will be "Complete".

I guess I could download the MEETING WOODY ALLEN, 50x2, SOFT AND HARD and various other little "non-film" films, but I think I'll wait.

So far, I feel like I can finally explain my Godard top 20...

1. Pierrot Le Fou: This is one of my favorite films of all time. So philisophical, so colorful, so beautiful, so absurd. I feel like this is a perfect mix of the more "fun", free aspects of his early work, along with the more political and abstract aspects of his later work. Also, it's one of the most beautiful films ever made.

2. Oh, Woe Is Me - This is simply the densest movie I've ever watched, it's almost like reading 3 novels at the same time. This was apparently edited partly by a blind woman, which explains why the editing is choppy, and why the real drama between the two main characters doesn't even occur until the last 30 minutes. By far Godard's most beautiful film, also his most abstract. Just a wonderful film, I've seen it 5 times and haven't even begun to completely wrap my head around it. HIGHLY reccomended...

3. Week End - This was the first Godard I saw and remains one of my favs. It's an extremely loose and dark work, and it's just got mindblowing sequence after mindblowing sequence.

4. Passion - Beautiful. Some of his best use of sound.

5. My Life to Live - I love how minimal and straightforward it is, but the simple story is an excuse to pile on shitloads of style. Some of the best directing ever.

6. Slow Motion - Love this one, just saw this over the weekend. Pretty straightfoward for a "later" work, just extremely beautiful.

7. Notre Musique - His newest film I've seen, also his grumpiest and darkest in a long time. And that's saying a lot. Somehow one of his easiest films to watch, even while being a bit all over the place.

8. Masculin/Feminin - Another minimal, brilliant work. Strangely underappreciated , even though it's also a lot of people's favorite.

9. The Old Place - This is a beautiful short film he did.

10. King Lear - Crazy as fuck!

and..
11. Numero Deux
12. Tout Va Bien
13. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
14. For Ever Mozart
15. Keep Your Right Up
16. Alphaville
17. Le Petit Soldat
18. La Chinoise
19. Le Gai Saivor
20. Made in USA

[uhler]

i used to be a huge fan of godard when i was younger. i still like him a lot, but i think he was just a starting point for me when it came to cinema. "my life to live" is my favorite.

[atsonicpark]

haha, what a starting point!

[uhler]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

haha, what a starting point!

well by starting point i guess i mean the art of cinema. i guess the first director i ever liked was stanley kubrick. before that i really liked movies, but never paid attention to the art of it. it wasn't until kubrick and then, later on, the film "the 400 blows" and godard that got me really into the art of filmmaking.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

Like I think I said, my friend is sending me NOUVELLE VAGUE and GERMANY 90 YEARS LATER dvd-r's... also, my ex got me TOUT VA BIEN (which i'd previously rented) for x-mas. So, yeah, soon, my Godard collection will be "Complete".

I guess I could download the MEETING WOODY ALLEN, 50x2, SOFT AND HARD and various other little "non-film" films, but I think I'll wait.

So far, I feel like I can finally explain my Godard top 20...

1. Pierrot Le Fou: This is one of my favorite films of all time. So philisophical, so colorful, so beautiful, so absurd. I feel like this is a perfect mix of the more "fun", free aspects of his early work, along with the more political and abstract aspects of his later work. Also, it's one of the most beautiful films ever made.

2. Oh, Woe Is Me - This is simply the densest movie I've ever watched, it's almost like reading 3 novels at the same time. This was apparently edited partly by a blind woman, which explains why the editing is choppy, and why the real drama between the two main characters doesn't even occur until the last 30 minutes. By far Godard's most beautiful film, also his most abstract. Just a wonderful film, I've seen it 5 times and haven't even begun to completely wrap my head around it. HIGHLY reccomended...

3. Week End - This was the first Godard I saw and remains one of my favs. It's an extremely loose and dark work, and it's just got mindblowing sequence after mindblowing sequence.

4. Passion - Beautiful. Some of his best use of sound.

5. My Life to Live - I love how minimal and straightforward it is, but the simple story is an excuse to pile on shitloads of style. Some of the best directing ever.

6. Slow Motion - Love this one, just saw this over the weekend. Pretty straightfoward for a "later" work, just extremely beautiful.

7. Notre Musique - His newest film I've seen, also his grumpiest and darkest in a long time. And that's saying a lot. Somehow one of his easiest films to watch, even while being a bit all over the place.

8. Masculin/Feminin - Another minimal, brilliant work. Strangely underappreciated , even though it's also a lot of people's favorite.

9. The Old Place - This is a beautiful short film he did.

10. King Lear - Crazy as fuck!

and..
11. Numero Deux
12. Tout Va Bien
13. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
14. For Ever Mozart
15. Keep Your Right Up
16. Alphaville
17. Le Petit Soldat
18. La Chinoise
19. Le Gai Saivor
20. Made in USA

I love that you love lots of his newer stuff. I got 20 Godards and I feel like it is an iceberg, and I'm viewing the tip of it, sticking out of the water, through powerful binos from a long way off. Or something like that. Oh woe is me. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to wrap my brain around his work, and I'll love every second of it.

[atsonicpark]

I just re-watched LA CHINOISE, that would definitely be higher on my list, amazing film...

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

I just re-watched LA CHINOISE, that would definitely be higher on my list, amazing film...

I enjoyed that one but only upon the second or third viewing. Gai Savoir is one that I still have a lot of difficulty with, but like all Godards, I WANT to rewatch it.

[atsonicpark]

yeah, his films are so packed with info, you really have to re watch them over and over.

"if you understand what i'm saying, i'm not being clear enough."

i watch them the first time for the visual beauty and the style, the 2nd and 3rd time through for the message, and then every time after that i still notice things i never noticed before. just insane.

[Skuj]

This is very important, because early on I immediatly tried to "get" such films when I watched them initially, with the pause and rewind buttons in great use. This is very wrong, as there are so many layers to any Godard film, and these layers should fall away naturally.

Even for a film like Les Carabiniers, hahaha.....god I hated that when I first saw it. I thought it was pure amateur garbage. Then, later on, it hit me....let's talk about that one: Nobody's fav Godard, surely?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Skuj

Even for a film like Les Carabiniers, hahaha.....god I hated that when I first saw it. I thought it was pure amateur garbage. Then, later on, it hit me....let's talk about that one: Nobody's fav Godard, surely?

mine, mine! it was my first godard film and i saw it on a dingy "cine club"-- i laughed my motherfucking ass off so hard. their postcards-- the ersatz reality they live-- fucking brilliant.

i do prefer alphaville though, obvious as it is now after many years, and the gorgeousness of "le mépris" (i dont mean a naked bardot, though that helps, but the beautiful compositions and the color and fucking fritz lang in it and the whole ulysses thing). but i digress-- shit like "prénom carmen" did nothing for me, mainly because i had seen before carlos saura's "carmen" which was way way way fucking better.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

8. Masculin/Feminin - Another minimal, brilliant work. Strangely underappreciated , even though it's also a lot of people's favorite.

underappreciated by who? there are whole books dedicated to that film! (i happen to own one).

[atsonicpark]

O RLY

[atsonicpark]

Originally Posted by Skuj

This is very important, because early on I immediatly tried to "get" such films when I watched them initially, with the pause and rewind buttons in great use. This is very wrong, as there are so many layers to any Godard film, and these layers should fall away naturally.

Even for a film like Les Carabiniers, hahaha.....god I hated that when I first saw it. I thought it was pure amateur garbage. Then, later on, it hit me....let's talk about that one: Nobody's fav Godard, surely?

Les Carabiniers is probably my least favorite of his films, yeah.

No, actually, Detective is.

[demonrail666]

I like Les carabiniers but it's an awkward film that sometimes makes me think has been directed by someone trying to make a godard movie, if that makes sense. Totally agree about Detective. Utter shit.

Shit, sorry, scratch that, I was thinking of La Chinoise, not Les Carabiniers.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

O RLY

yes. it's an old edition (60s or 70s) and i can't find it here. it has some critical essays and the whole dialogue plus photos. the movie made quite an uproar when it came out. the academics shat their pants in holy terror. it was a prelude to may 68 in many ways.

i would post you a picture but i have it in my rural hovel where the books live. i might be there next week. with the right isbn number you could find a copy (if you wanted).

i think it's in english (a translation) but i can't remember.

[!@#$%!]

les carabiniers is hilarious and brilliant! the poor stupid yokels recruited by the army! "be all you can be" and "see the world!". they come home with postcards haaa haa aaaaaa haaaaa.

[Skuj]

Oh Man I really thought Detective was great. Hahaha. I paste my embarrassing but heartfelt comments from another forum regarding the 4-film Lionsgate set here, for your amusement:

I thoroughly enjoyed Passion and Carmen, but Detective is in a higher plane/field/class from those altogether, methinks. The Lionsgate 82-95 box has thus far demonstrated to me that Godard never wavered/weakened/submitted. Tragedy, comedy, experimentation, bafflement, beauty....imho, these films proudly, defiantly, and with subtlety compete with the 60s works.

Anyway...Helas Pour Moi is my new favourite Godard film. Oh I know....when I view Contempt or Pierrot again, I'll not be able to remember anything about Helas. Perhaps.

The first 5mins of Helas Pour Moi alone clearly outstrips the start of any other JLG by miles, in terms of....er....dramatic surrealistic alien intrigue. Or something like that.

OK look....I've only viewed half of it. I'm confounded, floored, desperate to see it again and again, and wondering if there is Criorg Love for this surely overlooked, forgotten, underappreciated Strange Beautiful Thing. I know nothing of the Cinematographer here, but he/she must be singled out and given the highest accolades available to any of his/her peers, ever. Visually, this lovely film is a wonder to behold.

Himself Himself outdid Himself here. The 80s slapstick is gone, for better or worse, and we are left with a very focussed, shocking, confusing, audacious work of ingeniousness. I'll have a lot more to say about this when I've viewed it some more, and when I'm sober. In the meantime, you must profess your hidden love for this Masterpiece, you JLG People, you.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

les carabiniers is hilarious and brilliant! the poor stupid yokels recruited by the army! "be all you can be" and "see the world!". they come home with postcards haaa haa aaaaaa haaaaa.

Indeed, once I "got" what Godard was doing here, most of this grimy little film became fucking hilarious. I love that quote somewhere, he didn't just make an anti-war film, but he made an anti-anti-war film. How can anyone seriously watch a John Wayne war film after this?

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

mine, mine! it was my first godard film and i saw it on a dingy "cine club"-- i laughed my motherfucking ass off so hard. their postcards-- the ersatz reality they live-- fucking brilliant.

i do prefer alphaville though, obvious as it is now after many years, and the gorgeousness of "le mépris" (i dont mean a naked bardot, though that helps, but the beautiful compositions and the color and fucking fritz lang in it and the whole ulysses thing). but i digress-- shit like "prénom carmen" did nothing for me, mainly because i had seen before carlos saura's "carmen" which was way way way fucking better.

Alphaville was another one that I only recently began to love. Fuckin Lemmy....that face.....that scene where he bursts through the wall.......this film made me feel sad for the characters though. I'm not sure that Godard intended this.

Dude....First Name: Carmen has everything that a big blockbuster must have: Sex, a bank robbery, blood, guns, a rockin soundtrack, yuks galore, mental institutions, and irony (both comic and tragic), plus some other things.

I bet it was playing down the street when I went to see Flashdance. (What a feeling!) Oh the innocence of youth.

I'm quite convinced that if Passion and First Name: Carmen had suddenly dropped out of the sky as the first works of a brand new Director, there would be seperate and long threads about these, and we'd be gushing over them as fresh, ingenious and tantalizing works that slap Reagan's and Thatcher's faces while giving the finger to the MTV crowd. Or something like that.