My favorite living director, Jean Luc Godard, and one of my other fave directors, Claire Denis, have revivals screening in New York at the moment.
A new 35mm copy of Godard’s bemused 1980 “Every Man For Himself” is showing at Film Forum. The greatest of all the new wave directors has had an on again off again relationship with rock. In the early 60s Godard insulted Bob Dylan during “Masculine/Feminine” (so did Woody Allen in “Annie Hall”) and within five years he was filming the Stones in “Sympathy For The Devil” -watch the bourgeoisie brats put together the classic, but nonsense, song.
At a screening of Claire Denis’ “I Can’t Sleep” at the IFC in the 90s, I asked whether she thought the main character, a murderer (of little old women) had lost his humanity. Her reply? “People can’t loose their humanity”. Dressed in a leather jacket and a white tee, she looked like the embodiment of both rock and roll and humanity.
This and next week there is a Claire Denis retro at the IFC and the reason I am going, the absolute don’t miss under any circumstance, is a movie I mention on my blog profile, “US Go Home”, part of the French TV anthology “Tous Les garcons et Les filles de leur age”. It is the story of a teenage girl’s coming of age but without anything even approaching sentimentality. 50 minutes in length, with a great American rock soundtrack, I have only seen it once and will not miss it on Tuesday. It is screening all day but I will be at the 715p at IFC on 6th Ave and 3rd street