Breathless
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1960
Godard's first film and to many his best. Quite revolutionary and could be seen as the starting point for modern cinema. Belmondo and Seberg make up one of the best couples in the history of cinema. Fast-paced storytelling and post-modern existential crime story.
A Woman is a Woman
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1961
Very enjoyable musical beautifully shot in 'Scope. Anna Karina's performance is reason alone to seek out this film. But if you really want to see a brilliant French musical, seek out either Jacques Demy's Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.
My Life to Live
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1962
Once again, Karina's performance is the highlight here. My Life to Live could very well be Godard's most poetic film, the editing rhythms are quite entrancing. The scene with Karina crying after watching Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc is heartbreaking.
Contempt
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1963
One of Godard's very best. A brilliant examination on why movies are important in the first place. Godard may be going to far by saying that cinema is more important than everything else, but it's still a brilliantly constructed movie. Fritz Lang playing himself, Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli playing a detached couple, and beautiful color cinematography. One of the great movies about making movies.
Band of Outsiders
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1964
In my opinion the best thing Godard's ever done. Odile (Anna Karina), Sami Frey (Franz), and Claude Brasseur (Arthur) make up one of the great love triangles in the movies. On the surface a post-modern exercise and reworking of Hollywood B-movies, on a deeper level a beautiful life-affirming statement about the world we live in.
Alphaville
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965
Never really understood this one and I definitely should watch it again. From what I remember, it seemed like a pretty interesting take on the sci-fi genre. Karina, once again, was great.
Pierrot le fou
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965
Perhaps the most captivating couple in all of Godard's movies, Karina and Belmondo drive the movie. The movie is a series of misadventures, and I remember most of them being quite amusing. As this is one of Godard's most revered films, it certainly warrants a second viewing.
Masculine-Feminine
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1966
Another one of my personal favorites. Chantal Goya plays a pop-star and the iconic Jean-Pierre Leud plays the intellectual young man, the epitome what I imagine someone from the 60s to be. One of Godard's most playful films, it's the best film ever made about "the kids of Marx and Coca-Cola."
Two or Three Things I Know About Her
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1967
The first Godard film I ever saw, and I didn't particularly respond to it immediately. Upon some thinking, however, a very visual satire on the American way of living. One of Godard's most complicated films, and perhaps it wasn't the best choice for me to be introduced to him. I urgently need to re-watch it.
Weekend
d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1967
This film, which closed off Godard's New Wave period, is perhaps his most anarchistic. Weekend is closer to the late work of Buñuel (particularly The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty) than to Godard's earlier stuff. There's a wonderfully long tracking shot that spans about ten minutes and chronicles a long line of traffic. As far as Godard's work goes, this rigorous shot is only matched by 1972's Tout va bien.
