Cannot recommend Suave qui peut (la vie) (Every Man For Himself) enough to people. There’s a lot that are quite good though. He’s just someone that needs to be explored rather than talked about.
Tout va bien is really good, some really great moments in that films. Every Man for Himself is a definite must see. Passion and Prenom Carmen are good to watch together. Also Germany Year 90 Nine Zero is a really good film. Those are the best out of that list, but all of Godard’s films are worth watching at least once.
I would say ANY film by Godard is well worth watching- multiple times. Tout va bien, Passion, Every Man for Himself, Ici et ailleurs, Nouvelle Vogue, Hail Mary, Woe is Me, Notre Musique, King Lear, Prenom Carmen, are all remarkable accomplishments.
Passion and Prenom Carmen are probably a good start for you. They most resemble his 60s films. Oh Woe is Me, Nouvelle Vague and Noret Musique are outstanding and underrated.
His 70s work is VERY poilitical and some of those politics feature theory and attitudes that are very much of their time. Stuff like Letter to Jane are fascinating, but his collaborator Gorin tends to way down these films with his opinions. It’s all relative though. Some people love this period.
Not a fan of Hail Mary, which is pretty one note.
There are some really impressive sequences in Ici et ailleurs. Well worth checking out. It is being put out on DVD this month as well as Numero deux.
JLG/JLG is excellent.
Je vous salue, Sarajevo is two minutes long. Remarkable what he does with those two minutes.
Watch it here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEHvYi8KZI
There are many shorts he has done that are not on your list. The Old Place and Liberté et Patrie and Lettre à Freddy Buache. The last is one is here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puPBeD0nucs
Opinions vary greatly on all of Godard’s work. I would suggest you watch them and form your own.
Wind from the East (with Groupe Dziga Vertov) – C+
Tout va bien – D+
Je vous salue, Sarajevo – A
Histoire(s) du cinema – A+
Film Socialisme- A
Je vous salue, Sarajevo is two minutes long. Remarkable what he does with those two minutes.
Very true. It’s among the finest short films ever made.
Opinions vary greatly on all of Godard’s work. I would suggest you watch them and form your own.
What this guy said. Everyone has a different favorite, everyone has a different ranking.
If you are not into radical politics and things of that nature, Godard’s Groupe Dziga Vertov films are not for you. However, Vladimir et Rosa, is in my top 10 Godard films, and Tout va bien has one of the greatest tracking shots ever.
If you can find a copy, I highly recommend France/Tour/Detour/Deux/Enfants. His best film from the 70’s in my opinion (haven’t seen Numéro deux yet.)
Sympathy for the Devil (aka One Plus One) is the best of the bunch.
They are all worth your time. That’s not to say that you will like them all.
“However, Vladimir et Rosa, is in my top 10 Godard films…”
Oh Dear God. That’s one of the most unwatchable films I’ve ever seen in my life. I get the shivers just thinking about it. They made some good films in the Dziga Vertov period, but that is not one of them.
I find it the most watchable film from that period. I have only watched 2 films from that period, and I liked it a lot better than Tout va bien, but hey, to each his own.
@Matt Parks
Yep. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
As for suggestions, can’t go wrong with Passion (1982), Nouvelle Vague (1990), JLG/JLG: A Self-Portrait in December (1995), or Film Socialisme (2010). My advice is just try to see what Godard you can, when you can. A lot of his filmography is hit-or-miss (of course, which ones are which differs from person to person), but even a lackluster Godard is better and more interesting than eighty percent of the films that exist in the world.
I don’t have Tout va bien rated so highly myself. I think I prefer British Sounds the most. Also Letter to Jane is interesting.
i tried to start a thread about this a while ago(http://mubi.com/topics/godard-in-the-70s-80s-and-90s) but it didn’t really catch on.
most people don’t like talking about Godard beyond the 60’s, not just on Mubi, anywhere.
It’s impossible to tell. Impossible to anticipate. Read about a particular film, watch clips and trailers, and you’ll still be way off. Everybody’s different, just be 100% open minded. That means: don’t expect freewheeling fun or immediate understanding… or anything at all since nothing is necessary. Everybody says there are no rules but they still demand likeable characters with realistic (or any kind of) psychology. I didn’t understand the plot of Hélas pour moi until my fourth viewing, let alone the ‘meaning’! See what you can! Always!
I really want to see Soigne ta droite!
Who’s buying the DVDs of Numero Deux and Ici Et Alleurs that come out this month or next from Olive Films?
Probably my favorite post-60s godard, and you can watch all 16 minutes of it here:
De l’origine du XXIe siècle (2000) from Angel Karagiozov on Vimeo.
Ici Et Ailleurs will be released this coming Tuesday. If you are on the fence about purchasing/watching the film I would suggest the following link. Someone found a one page review by Serge Daney about the film which they have posted and translated. As is usual, Daney’s thoughts on cinema here prove quite illuminating.
“For it’s in the nature of cinema (delay between the time of shooting and the time of projection) to be the art of here and elsewhere. What Godard says, very uncomfortably and very honestly, is that the true place of the filmmaker is in the AND. A hyphen only has value if it doesn’t confuse what it unites.”
http://kinoslang.blogspot.com/2009/01/preface-to-here-and-elsewhere-by-serge.html
I’m a big fan of Godard and, just to choose a few, these are absolute essential watch :
Origins of the 21st century and Je Vous salue Sarajevo, 2 shorts, that are 2 of his best films, long or short.
Le Gai Savoir rank up there with Godard’s best.
Sauve qui peut (la vie) is also essential and one of his best 1980s+ work.
Hail Mary should also clearly be on your to-watch list.
So I watched up to King Lear, and while I found everything to be interesting, nothing captivated me as much as his 60s work. The ones I definitely took something from were:
British Sounds (1970)
Tout va bien (1972)
Numero Deux (1975)
Prenom Carmen (1983)
Hail Mary (1985)
I wanted to continue, but I just felt too burned out on Godard.
Hail Mary is far less polemical than you might expect it to be at first glance. It full of sensitivity and formal beauty, much in the way of Notre Musique (I tend to group the two together instinctively). You’re appreciation of it might be amplified by watching the short film by his longtime partner and collaborator, Anne-Marie Mieville, called The Book Of Mary. They were intended as companion pieces and you can even catch a glimpse of an earlier Godard film within the short!
The version I watched actually showed The Book of Mary before the film, and I agree, it was really good!
Yeah, Michael, don’t burn out on Godard – or any one filmmaker, lol! I’m guessing you’re watching in chronological order?
And Jerry, thanks for the link. I’ll watch it eventually – lots of films on my plate these days.
for me La Chinoise it’s his truly masterpiece, i just can’t get enough of it. it’s great in so many ways!
Michael Gonzalez
So I got done watching Godard’s feature films up Week End yesterday. I want to explore beyond Week End, but no one mentions much beside Histoire(s) du Cinema, and while I’m sure it’s fantastic, I want other films to watch besides this one. I stumbled upon the following list:
Sympahy for the Devil (1968)
Le Gai Savoir (1968)
British Sounds (1970)
Lotte in Italia (1971)
Tout va bien (1972)
Numero Deux (1975)
Ici et ailleurs (1976)
Suave qui peut (la vie) (1980)
Passion (1982)
Scenario du Film Passion (1982)
Prenom Carmen (1983)
Hail Mary (1985)
Detective (1985)
King Lear (1987)
Nouvelle Vague (1990)
Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (1991)
Je vous salue, Sarajevo [TV] (1993)
Oh, Woe Is Me (1993)
JLG/JLG (1995)
Histoire(s) du cinema (1998)
Origin of the 21st Century (2000)
In Praise of Love (2001)
Notre musique (2004)
Films Socialisme (2010)
Are all of these worthy enough films? Or are some not really worth my time? If it helps any, here’s a ranking I made of Godard’s films:
1. Week End
2. Pierrot le fou
3. Vivre sa Vie
4. Breathless
5. Les Carabiniers
6. La Chinoise
7. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
8. Contempt
9. Une Femme est une femme
10. Band of Outsiders
11. Le Petit Soldat
12. Alphaville
13. A Married Woman
14. Masculin Feminin
15. Made in U.S.A.