very funny how lincoln center chose to place patti smith as the single image defining the godard film in their booklet. not that any one image could do the job, but given patti was almost irrelevant in the film, and perhaps a good lure is rather funny.

for those expecting to see a rock film, be advised….

la porte etroite, renoir, palestine, jj martin, des choses comme ca, napoli, greece, andre gide, patti smith, cruise ship, opera, egypt, wind, balzac, barcelona, hitler, chris marker jab and meow meow… just a few of the things i took away on sept 29th.

115 years of cinema and the man dominating the second half of it, was at it again. godard’s latest film at the new york film festival at lincoln center was a must see. first off let me say how much i love lincoln center, it reminds me of why i love new york so much. just being there i felt vibrant and at ease, its the best of new york in one place. the film started on time, and the audience was a who’s who of film buffs. I ran into wes anderson after the film while getting a coffee in the lobby before going back in for the discussion panel. ironically i had just seen ‘the fantastic mr. fox” and i told him how disappointed i was that jarvis cocker had such a short role in that.

anyhow, back to film socialisme. as i had anticipated i was amazed, bored-to-tears and lost. to clarify, godard remains my hero but that doesn’t change this. after prenome carmen, in my opinion, you must be fluent in french in order to watch a JLG film. even then you best have read up on your literature, art history and philosophy to put that puzzle together. the audio is so dense and layered there is simply no way to do subtitles on the later godards. i was mad at myself for my lack of lingual stamina–if nothing, just to be able to see his films. so yes, it’s not for everyone and chances are it will not be released in cinemas. but as balzac said: you must never forget… who your real daddy is. by dd