Friday, May 2, 2014

465. Week End

Week End
1967
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard












Here we are again with yet another Godard, which in my opinion are getting progressively worse.  Let's see how this one fares.

A husband and a wife are both planning each other's murders with their respective lovers.  They set out by car to visit the wife's dying father in order to secure her inheritance. Um, then some other stuff happens.  See above picture.

This film involves one of the most famous tracking shots in movie history, which even I have to admit was pretty fantastic.  For seven minutes, the camera follows a traffic jam in one long shot that is an absolute beautiful piece of filmmaking.   There, I was nice.

I am getting bored with my own complaints, but unfortunately for all of us, The Book is obsessed with this guy.  I like plot and character development and those two things are very rarely present in Godard's films.  We get a bit of a plot here but absolutely no explanation on why these characters are seemingly losing their minds.  I suppose since this is kind of a screwball comedy, no one really deemed explanations necessary.

You know I never give away movie endings, but what the hell was with the last five minutes?  Dear God-ard, are we done with this guy yet?  I have to go cleanse my palate.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

One of Premiere's 25 Most Dangerous Movies.


9 comments:

  1. This is one of the strangest films I have ever seen. I am still not sure if I like it or not.

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  2. Somewhat off topic.. but.. just to but in and join the list of Godard films I've disliked...
    I just sat through A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme), and the embarrassing admission I really don't like / get this guy continues.
    You'll love this plot Amanda.. A rather airheaded woman, who is a stripper, decides one morning she wants to have a baby. She might not be financially secure, but hey. I'm cute and pretty, so I'll make a great mother won't I? A friend lends her an ovulation calculator .. and, hey, wanna guess... Today's the day! Boy friend is not so sure, but doesn't seem overly interested or bothered either way... so the answer is a quicky in the bathroom.

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    Replies
    1. I don't learn. I just watched another Goddard - 'Passion', also not at all rewarding.

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    2. Omg you need to be protected from yourself

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    3. ! I wonder if there is a support group?

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    4. The simple answer is: Stop watching Godard movies and join the Godard hate club.
      Weekend is just the worst...

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  3. TS.. You are right, but I keep trying.. My latest try was 'Film Socialisme', (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1438535/) which is enough to persuade anyone to vote Trump. However, there is something worse than A Godard film, (as I discovered yesterday) - a crap remake of a Godard film.. Yes, to my shame I watched 'Breathless', the Richard Gere one.

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  4. There are, you you say, some very good bits in here.

    And I can hardly complain that modern cinema lacks originality (the top-28 grossing movies of 2019 were all sequels, remakes or adaptions etc) and then shoot this down for trying to do different things.

    But, no, it's not for me.

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