French New Wave (1 Viewer)

[Benny_]

People sometimes talk about Scorsese, Kubrick, Fellini or Bergman or even Werner here..but I've never heard Godard, Traffaut or Melville so much as get a mention. I figure it's about that changed. I just watched Jules and Jim, Breathless and Band of Outsiders, and I have to admit la nouvelle vague has far exceeded my already lofty expectations so far. I guess it was to be expected considering its influence on Wong Kar Wai (one of my favourite directors). What does everyone else think?

 

[walrusbear]

the 'new wave' films i've seen were excellent

jules & jim and 400 blows are true striking truffaut movies
i've only seen breathless, from Godard, but yeah i should definitely check out more

who else counts as part of 'new wave' movement?

 

[icecreamdisco]

i wouldn't say that godard and truffaut aren't talked about as much as the ones you mentioned, they get all the props they deserve. and melville isn't really a new wave director; his films are fairly conventional in terms of narrative, and he cites 'craftsmen' like john ford and howard hawks as influences.

i like the french new wave (see av), though i've only seen truffaut's two key films (jules et jim and the 400 blows) and a lot of godard's most revered films do nothing for me - alphaville, two or three things i know about her and contempt, namely.

that said, godard's my life to live is probably my favorite film of the entire movement, and one of my favorite films period. it's both a great meditation on the nature of cinema and art vs. entertainment, and an emotionally engaging story - something that he (often deliberately) never seems to be able to craft.

 

[icecreamdisco]

who else counts as part of 'new wave' movement?

agnes varda and jacques rivette are the only two i can think of off the top of my head. varda's most famous film is cleo 5 from 7, which i haven't seen. though i have seen her 2001 doco the gleaners and i, which is excellent and has been screened on sbs a few times. rivette is best known for celine and julie go boating, a three hour surrealist film that was one of the main inspirations for mulholland drive. it kinda went over my head when i saw it, though it generally kept me interested for it's length, so that's commendable.

 

[walrusbear]

agnes varda and jacques rivette are the only two i can think of off the top of my head. varda's most famous film is cleo 5 from 7, which i haven't seen. though i have seen her 2001 doco the gleaners and i, which is excellent and has been screened on sbs a few times. rivette is best known for celine and julie go boating, a three hour surrealist film that was one of the main inspirations for mulholland drive. it kinda went over my head when i saw it, though it generally kept me interested for it's length, so that's commendable.

cool i'll look out for them

i just remembered i've also seen contempt from godard

on a side note, has anyone else seen the Bergman movie 'Persona'?
i reminds me a hell of a lot like david lynch

 

[Benny_]

Jiri Menzel of Closely Watched Trains fame is new wave I think.. Czech new wave though.

 

[lessthanthree]

check out Godard's Week End, it's definitely my favourite of his. i just finished writing an essay on it and Breathless and was reminded how awesome a film it is

 

[walrusbear]

erm in the absence of a godard thread i thought i'd post here

just a quick fairly unimportant question from anyone in the know
any opinions of godard's 80s output? anyone seen any?
i think i've covered bases with his 60s output (the famous, good stuff)
his later efforts look, on the surface, ugly and shite. i could definitely be wrong though - anyone wiser to this?

 

[icecreamdisco]

what a coincidence; i gave a presentation on the new wave and godard to my 'intro to cinema' class a few hours ago. i think it went ok, though i ran out of time near the end and couldn't show an excerpt from gremlins 2 as an example of godardian hollywood filmmaking.

as for godard's 80's output, i've seen hail mary, passion and slow motion. the latter is fantastic, the othe two very difficult but i eventually appreciated once i let them settle.

it's bizarre how many titles have been released recently on r4 dvd... i went into jb-hifi the other day and saw like 20 of 'em, including impossible-to-find stuff like made in usa and oh, woe is me.

 

[walrusbear]

yeah that's what prompted this actually
about 8 or so of his films were released locally by universal or someone
i've been grabbing the 60s efforts and wondered about the others

if you think slow motion is good, i'll check it.

also, gremlins 2? godard? awesome
i clearly need to see that movie again

 

[icecreamdisco]

also, gremlins 2? godard? awesome
i clearly need to see that movie again

there's a scene featuring a bout of rote expository dialogue between two characters, interrupted by the effect of the film stock burning up, and then the gremlins start making hand puppets on the blank screen, before the film changes to one of those b&w 60's 'nudie-cutie' films. and then the scene switches to angry theatergoers walking out of a cinema, complaining about the very film we're watching. total anti-cinema, postmodern lunacy! there's plenty of digressions like that elsewhere in the film. jlg would be proud.