Jean-Luc Godard’s prominence in film history
is assured but problematic.
The trouble with assessing Godard’s work is that so much of it
is simply unavailable. Even with the advent of videotapes and
DVDs, there are numerous gaps in the chronology, and hence in
the ability to make informed judgements about a director whose
sweeping, even reckless stylistic experiments – coupled with
a political radicalism rarely equalled onscreen – are so infrequently
seen.
That’s where BAMcinematek’s series, "Before and After: Jean-Luc
Godard" comes in. Since only five features and several short
films will be shown from April 21-26, it’s hardly the comprehensive
overview necessary to grasp Godard’s importance.
But "Before and After" provides viewers with the opportunity
to at least fill in a few more noticeable gaps and to connect
some of these films with his more widely known work. The series
includes the remarkable stretch of films he made in the mid-1960s:
"Made in USA," "Masculin/Feminin," "Two
or Three Things I Know About Her" and his masterpiece, "Weekend,"
as well as later works like "In Praise of Love" and
his most recent feature, "Notre Musique."
"British Sounds," one of Godard’s most notoriously
polemical statements, opens the retrospective on April 21. Also
known as "See You at Mao," this hour-long 1969 feature
was co-directed by Jean-Henri Roger and shows Godard at his most
propagandistic; along with "Wind from the East," it’s
Godard-the-Leftist-Agitator triumphing over Godard-the-Film-Artist.
But it’s a must-see for those who want to see how far astray
political concerns sometimes led Godard away from interesting
filmmaking.
To be sure, a new Criterion DVD of Godard’s 1970 feature "Tout
va Bien," starring Jane Fonda and Yves Montand, shows how
Godard was able to take his (and the leftist Fonda’s and Montand’s)
political concerns and create a biting expose of capitalism and
militant leftism. Too bad "Tout va Bien" – or the incendiary
documentary "Letter to Jane," also on the Criterion
disc – isn’t in the BAM series.
The other four features in "Before and After" range
from 1985 to 1996, when Godard made several of his strongest
films, including "Nouvelle Vague" in 1990, "Helas
pour Moi" in 1993 and "JLG/JLG" in 1994.
None of those films is on the schedule, but the quartet that
will be shown – 1985’s "Detective" and "Hail Mary,"
"King Lear" (1987) and "For Ever Mozart"
(1996) – demonstrate that Godard’s cinematic experiments have
been ongoing.
"Detective" (showing April 22) has been described as
Godard’s homage to film noir. This dryly humorous, faintly arid
crime drama is as far removed from the films of John Cassavetes,
Edgar G. Ulmer and Clint Eastwood (to whom the director dedicated
the film) as possible.
Godard’s second film from 1985, "Hail Mary" (showing
April 25), is one of his most remarkable creations. Banned and
picketed when it was first released by those who believed the
film to be sacrilegious, "Hail Mary" is a typically
Godardian exploration of a young virgin mother, and shows how
faith, beauty and art have been co-opted by the chaotic everyday
existence of modern life. ("Hail Mary" will be shown
with the short "The Book of Mary," an equally stunning
study of a young girl by Godard’s frequent collaborator – and
life partner – Anne-Marie Mieville, who deserves a retrospective
of her own.)
That Godard actually made a movie called "King Lear"
(showing April 23) is funny enough. That the production deal
was signed on a napkin at a film festival – which Godard insists
happened – is more hilarious yet.
The movie itself, which stars Burgess Meredith as the king (after
Norman Mailer bows out early on), a radiant Molly Ringwald as
Cordelia and stage director Peter Sellars as the Bard’s ancestor
William Shakespeare V, is another overstuffed experiment: there
are onscreen title cards filled with puns, continuous screeching
bird sounds, and no attempt at all to retell Shakespeare’s greatest
tragedy.
In a sense, Godard’s "King Lear" is a statement on
the origin and implications of creative bankruptcy, an admission
that adapting Shakespeare is an awesome and even impossible task.
In its place, Godard has fashioned a fascinating visual essay
on the interrelationship of art, nature and life, in the process
making one of his most surprisingly successful films.
The same cannot be said for "For Ever Mozart" (showing
April 24), which attempts to be a "Weekend" for our
generation. But whereas "Weekend" was a shattering
study of people’s failure to be moved by the horrors then going
on in Vietnam, "For Ever Mozart" never does the same
in relation to the Bosnian atrocities of the mid-1990s.
Godard appears reluctant to delve into that unfathomable genocide,
instead making a few half-hearted moviemaking jokes. But always
present in "For Ever Mozart" – and the other films
in the series – is a directorial mastery that can only be one
filmmaker’s.
"Before and After: Jean-Luc Godard" presents a master
filmmaker, warts and all. Surely Godard himself will approve.
"Before and After: Jean-Luc Godard"
runs April 21-26 at BAMcinematek, 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland
Place in Fort Greene. Tickets are $10, and on weekdays, $7 for
students with ID, seniors and children 12 and younger. For schedule
and other information, call (718) 636-4100 or log on to the Web
site at www.bam.org.
