SPRING 2006
THE CINEMA ALONE: A History of Jean-Luc Godard
March 17-22
"If the cinema is a religion, Godard is at once its humblest acolyte and greatest saint."‹J. Hoberman
"When it comes to Jean-Luc Godard, there's only one question to ponder: Is this enigmatic, narrative-discarding hermit the greatest living cinematic artist? The wisest, most transformative, most original agent provocateur at work in the fields of cinema?...[His] movies don¹t merely depict things, or present situations, or tell stories they throb with life." Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE
Throughout his career, no filmmaker has more consistently, or more adventurously, redefined our
very conception of the cinema than Jean-Luc Godard. From his earth-shattering debut with
BREATHLESS and the remarkable string of sketches, experiments and full-fledged masterpieces
that followed, Godard has confirmed time and time again that not only is he the world's greatest
living filmmaker, he's also the most dangerous. Godard parlayed the success of BREATHLESS into a
career of hugely innovative, corrosively brilliant films that introduced a kind of poetry to the
cinema unlike anything that came before it. More than any other filmmaker, Godard has continued
to blaze forward, always searching for news to approach filmmaking with video being a
particularly fertile source of inspiration. Northwest Film Forum is proud to celebrate the
man and his work with the Seattle Premiere of his HISTOIRE(S) DU CINEMA, along with rare
screenings of some of his most treasured works from throughout his career. All films in
French with English subtitles.
Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
Thanks to the French Embassy, New York and New Yorker Films.
Attend all the films in THE CINEMA ALONE with the Series Pass:
$25/$15 NWFF members.
MARCH 17-18 Fri at 7pm (Part 1, 148 min.); Sat at 7pm (Part 2, 117 min.)
Seattle Premiere!
Histoire(s) du Cinema
(Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1989-1998, BetaSP, 315 min.)
The culmination of an extraordinary life in the cinema, the monumental HISTOIRE(S) is an elegy to a century in dominated by the moving image a very personal response to the most vital moments in cinema history and the events that shaped them, as well as a candid reflection on his own life and career. Godard employs the full visual (and sonic) possibilities of video to create a ravishingly beautiful collage of images and ideas in the most sophisticated work he's yet created. The defining masterpiece of a career that has, from the very beginning, defied definition, HISTOIRE(S) has nonetheless remained largely unseen because of copyright issues. Northwest Film Forum is honored to present an extremely rare screening of Godard's magnum opus. $15/$12 NWFF Members - good for BOTH NIGHTS.
"In its astonishing beauties, and the suggestiveness of its editing, one may still see and feel the Godard of the early sixties. Thus, the HISTOIRE(S) reasserted, beyond doubt, that his is one of the great critical yet poetic minds in the medium." David Thomson, BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF FILM
MARCH 18-20 Sat at 12, 4pm; Sun at 12, 4, 7pm; Mon at 7pm
Anna Karina in
Band of Outsiders
(Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1964, 35mm, 95 min.)
Anna Karina lights up the screen in one of Godard's most beloved films. BAND introduces two friends who seem to think they're in a movie as they chase after the two things they want most in the world: a pile of cash, and Odile (Karina), a breathtaking young woman with whom they both may be in love. But when they stop playacting and attempt a burglary, real life consequences intrude into their reveries. Thanks to gorgeous cinematography from the legendary Raoul Coutard, the film conveys remarkably kinetic expressions of pure exuberance most memorably a mad dash through the Louvre that make for a delightful masterpiece.
"A life-marking movie experience." - VILLAGE VOICE
MARCH 18-20 Sat at 2pm; Sun at 2, 9pm; Mon at 9pm
Godard's apocalyptic masterpiece!
Weekend
(Jean-Luc Godard, Italy/France, 1967, 35mm, 105 min.)
Godard's absurdist vision of the apocalypse in which there is no love, peace or art - only greed, death and a sense of destruction that spirals into cannibalism. In one of the great tracking shots in all of cinema, a massive traffic jam becomes a fiery descent into hell, with bodies and cars interchangeably strewn across the shoulder and angry motorists trying to speed past each other in gridlock. Perhaps even more astonishing, however, are Godard¹s hugely prescient, penetrating insights into then-contemporary French society, particularly the radical element which would most definitely include Godard himself - that would erupt into revolution mere months after the film's release.
MARCH 21 Tues at 7, 9pm
In Praise of Love
(Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland, 2001, 35mm, 97 min.)
IN PRAISE OF LOVE tells two stories. One is of a romance in decline, filmed on gorgeous, crisp b&w 35mm. The other is of a producer seeking to purchase the story of an elderly French couple who fought in the Resistance, shot with some of the most innovative digital cinematography the cinema has seen (in fact, the remarkable effects were achieved by shooting the scenes on video and filming a monitor preceded by a long and painstaking trial and error process to find the right settings. Gorgeous, impossibly bright colors erupt all around the image as the story moves out to the lush French countryside. Godard¹s first feature made after completing his massive HISTOIRE(S) DU CINEMA, LOVE premiered to ecstatic reception from critics and audiences at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
MARCH 22 Wed at 7, 9pm
Not available on video!
Every Man for Himself
(Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland, 1980, 35mm, 87 min.)
Godard's triumphant return to cinemas after a decade of video experimentation, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF (SAUVE QUI PEUT (LA VIE)) is a brutally pessimistic look at love in the lives of three people: professor Paul Godard (Jacques Dutronc), his co-worker and ex-girlfriend Denise Rimbaud (Nathalie Baye), and Isabelle Riviera (Isabelle Huppert), a prostitute who has counted Paul among her clients. Their three separate stories converge when Paul brings Denise to his house in the countryside and Isabelle arrives, unaware that Paul is the owner, to inquire about renting it. Godard disrupts his stunning compositions with possibly the most striking use of slow motion since Vertov. SAUVE QUI PEUT is presented with special thanks to Marie Bonnel and the French Embassy, New York, whose Isabelle Huppert retrospective/photo exhibition is currently traveling the country.