Ship Europe. Film Socialisme, Wild Bunch, 2012 by Srećko Horvat Costa Concordia, the famous cruise ship that hit a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea in January 2012 might furnish another aptly-named example for symbolizing the harmony and unity between European nations. Recently in Bucharest, I came across an apparently innocent map of seminar rooms in the elevator of the hotel where a conference was taking place on ‘The National Question in Central-Eastern Europe’. There it was, a little map of Europe, consisting of ‘room Berlin’, ‘room Amsterdam’, ‘room Paris’, ‘room London’, and others, promoting the diversity but at the same time unity of the European project.
So – this is the national question in the European Union solved? Costa Concordia, the famous cruise ship that hit a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea in January 2012 might offer another aptly-named example for symbolizing the harmony and unity between European nations. Isn’t this a reasonable description of Europe’s current deadlock? Notes: Essential Insights: FILM SOCIALISME.
All you need to make a film is a girl and a llama: Jean-Luc Godard's FILM SOCIALISME Love him or hate him, one thing is for certain: a new film by Jean-Luc Godard is a major cinematic event for both critics and film lovers alike. The release of Film Socialisme, rumored to be the infamous French director’s last film, has prompted an outpouring of exceptionally passionate and inspired debate. Below are the best reviews, interviews and videos that take on the complexities, difficulties and pleasures of Film Socialisme and discuss them in ways that are both accessible and insightful. But even the most eloquent reviews admit that their interpretations are, in the end, only that: starting points to be explored and understood with time and thought. Until now it has only been possible to see Film Socialisme at film festivals or during limited theatrical releases, but now you can watch it on Fandor. -Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Mubi.com -Amy Taubin, Film Comment Want a sneak peek of the film?
J. Essential Images: FILM SOCIALISME. The single most illuminating statement about the films of Jean-Luc Godard I have ever encountered was an offhand musing on an Internet movie forum by French film scholar Alison Smith. Addressing the uneven quality of Godard’s filmography, Smith wrote, “I can think of a lot of Godard’s films that I’d call genuine masterpieces, but there is an odd sense that they all connect with each other and that “Godard” (en masse) is a more real unit than any of his individual films.”
This idea is beautifully demonstrated in the Godardloop video, which weaves together some of the reoccurring visual motifs that can be found throughout Godard’s films. The “Essential Images” included below aim to apply this idea specifically to Film Socialisme, Godard’s latest and, if some rumors are to be believed, final film. Melancholy repose: Charlotte et son Jules (1960) and Film Socialisme (2010) Spacial expanses by the sea: Contempt (1963) and Film Socialisme.
Video Essay: Jean-Luc Godard’s FILM SOCIALISME, with Navajo Chinese Subtitles. Godard’s FILM SOCIALISME: The Ultimate in Social Media? No direction home? Patti Smith is 'La chanteuse' in Jean-Luc Godard's inciting FILM SOCIALISME. Film Socialisme, the latest work from inimitable master Jean-Luc Godard, did not get its U.S. release until June, 2011, more than a year after it launched in Europe at the Cannes Film Festival.
Already by then (May, 2010) the streets of Athens, amid a national and global debt crisis, were responding to austerity cuts dictated by state and financial centers of power with the largest public protests that country has seen in decades. Before the year was out, Tunisia rose en masse against authoritarianism and an equally hopeless future as prescribed from above, and touched off the Arab Spring. Film Socialisme seemed to explicate and anticipate just such historic developments—even as it elaborated politico-aesthetic concerns Godard has been exploring for decades with uncompromising originality. Godard is operating at the height of his powers here.
“Yes, but kids are part of the people. On the Set of Godard’s ADIEU AU LANGAGE. Godard on the set in Nyon in March In Adieu au langage, which Jean-Luc Godard is reportedly preparing to premiere at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, Daniel Ludwig plays “a man who’s angry at his wife because she’s met another man on a park bench. Period. That’s all I need to know, the assistant succinctly tells me,” writes Ludwig in a delicious diary-like piece for the Tages-Anzeiger, a Swiss daily.
“Godard’s screenplay leaves all sorts of other questions open as well. Alongside sibylline texts and the master’s own handmade collages and images, the screenplay is wildly, chaotically, wonderfully suggestive, an artwork. On this particular drizzly day in Nyon by Lake Geneva, Ludwig, sitting in the back of a silver Mercedes SL 500, is driven at breakneck speed, tires screeching, around two curves, after which, he leaps out, pistol at the ready, yells out his meager lines, and shoots. 27 times until Godard tells his assistant “C’est bon,” who then relays the okay to the crew and actors.