Or was it more of, wow that's really different & original and I can see something there but it kind of alienates me?
Yep, that sums it up for me. It's like music; I can appreciate the talent & originality of certain musicians (say Kenny G on saxophone) but the style (smooth jazz) doesn't connect with me at all. So this thread is kind of like "Do you know of any other good sax players who don't play smooth jazz?"
I think what alienates me from Godard is that sometimes I get the feeling that he's going out of his way to be unusual, which I find distracting. For example, you mentioned the opening scene of the characters' backs. This bizarre scene is hammered so hard that (to me) it loses its subtlely and instead becomes gimmicky. A lot of rebellious artists tread this fine line.
Take the film
Russian Ark (a 2-hr film shot entirely in one continuous cut). It's a good movie, but it's obvious that the director set out to make "a film that was shot entirely in one continuous cut". And so you become distracted from the story. Style tramples on substance. Contrast this with
Werckmeister Harmoniak, a 2-hr film shot in ~20 cuts. The scenes are still very long (5-10 mins each) which accomplishes the same mood without distracting the audience from the script.
But a lot of it may also be my (lack of) familiarity with odd movies. I suppose if I were already acclimated to strange camera angles, then this wouldn't be so hard to digest. But I prefer to go into every movie as if I'm an alien from outer space watching my very first film. Does it appeal to me or not? With
Vivre sa vie the answer is no, but I can still see that a lot of skill & artistry went into it, so I'll keep trying.
Some good suggestions here. My video store carries a few Antonioni titles (
Il Grido &
Profession: Reporter... unfortunately they don't have
Blowup) so maybe I'll try that next. Maybe I'll even check out
Band of Outsiders based on your description: "style and substance are almost one and the same"--that's the kind of stuff that appeals to me. Thanks!
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MovieMan0283part2
18 years ago
All Godard movies have idiosyncratic directorial choices, but in his best films these choices seem brilliant and exciting. Actually, I felt the same way about the opening shot of Vivre sa vie so we may end up having similar taste in Godard films. Band of Outsiders is just a lot of fun, and there's an infamous dance sequence which is great.
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