Anna Karina was a model, a muse, an actor, a director, a novelist, and, most of all, she was a collaborator. The eight movies she made with husband Jean-Luc Godard are among the greatest in the annals of cinema, and … Continue reading This week in Film — LE PETIT SOLDAT and THE MEDICINE
When Anna Karina died on December 14, so did the spirit of the French New Wave. Born Hanne Karin Bayer in Denmark, Karina (Sept. 22, 1940-Dec. 14, 2019) modeled, acted, directed, wrote, and danced. Her career spans nearly five decades, … Continue reading Sunday Streams — Anna Karina
French critic cum filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard famously said that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun, but he could have done it with less. As an artist, Godard vacillated back and forth between incendiary agitator and devoted cineaste, often colliding within the same movie. For his seventh feature, Godard wanted to make something cheap, something fast, something commercial. As Richard Brody writes in his seminal study of Godard, Everything is Cinema, “Godard took no chances with the material: he declared that he wanted ‘to make a simple, legible film.’” That film was to be … Continue reading BAND OF OUTSIDERS
“I don’t think you should FEEL about a movie. You should feel about a woman. You can’t kiss a movie.” “There is no point in having sharp images when you’ve fuzzy ideas.” “Tracking shots are a question of morality.” “You don’t make a movie, the movie makes you.” –Jean-Luc Godard Continue reading Born On This Day – December 3, 1930
“The only great problem of cinema seems to be more and more, with each film, when and why to start a shot and when and why to end it.” “I make film to make time pass.” –Jean-Luc Godard Continue reading Born On This Day – December 3
“Actually making films has taught us a lot: It is as much trouble to make a bad films as a good one. Our most sincere film can seem phony. The films we do with our left hands may become worldwide hits. A perfectly ordinary movie with energy can turn out to be better cinema than a film with ‘intelligent’ intentions listlessly executed. The result rarely matches the effort. Cinematic success is not necessarily the result of good brain work, but of a harmony of existing elements in ourselves that we may not have even been conscious of: a fortunate fusion … Continue reading In Their Words – Friday, August 9, 2013
“If it were all in the script, why make the film?” –Nicholas Ray Continue reading In Their Words – Wednesday, August 7, 2013
“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.” –Jean-Luc Godard Continue reading In Their Words – Monday, July 29, 2013
“People in life quote as they please, so we have the right to quote as we please. Therefore, I show people quoting, merely making sure that they quote what pleases me.” –Jean-Luc Godard Continue reading In Their Words – Monday, July 15, 2013
“Some films that we admire discourage us, how can we do any better? But they’re not the best ones, the best ones open doors. Cinema seems to start and restart with them.” –François Truffaut Continue reading In Their Words – Friday, July 12, 2013
