Friday, June 19, 2009

Made in U.S.A. (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)







Tonight I'll finally get to see the only Godard film from my favorite period of his oeuvre (1961-67) that I have not seen. I am so excited I could puke:

"Not the celluloid holy grail, but it's close enough." — J. Hoberman

"Arguably the least-seen feature from Godard's late 1960s' golden age, Made in U.S.A. is only now getting an American theatrical run, forty years past due. It's the director's free-form "remake" of The Big Sleep, with Anna Karina, his soon-to-be-ex-wife, substituting for Humphrey Bogart as a private detective embroiled in inexplicable international political intrigue. Awash in pop art color schemes and pop culture (sixties icon Marianne Faithfull wanders into one scene to sing "As Tears Go By"), it's also one of Godard's most heart-felt expressions of his conflicted relationship to everything America represented to him—its politics, its consumerism, and especially its movies. With Jean-Pierre Leaud and Laszlo Szabo. (85 mins., 35mm)"