Bildbuch (2018)
9KBildbuch: Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With Jean-Luc Godard, Dimitri Basil, Jean-Pierre Gos, Anne-Marie Miéville. Nothing but silence. Nothing but a revolutionary song. A story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand.
“To be brief: With regard to Jean-Luc Godardu0026#39;s later work, what you get out of it depends entirely on what you bring to it and expect from it. u0026quot;Goodbye to Languageu0026quot; nauseates me; I think itu0026#39;s unbearably pretentious, poorly constructed, and struggling for meaning. But I had some modicum of fun with u0026quot;The Image Book.u0026quot; Granted, itu0026#39;s still montages layered on montages on montages, so itu0026#39;s dense, but itu0026#39;s still good, academic fun.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNowhere else but in late-era Godard can you find a reference to the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge scene from u0026quot;Vertigou0026quot; moments after a shocking ISIS execution video. Godard lost none of his edge as a filmmaker, for better and for worse, and u0026quot;The Image Booku0026quot; proves heu0026#39;s retained his ability to shock and inspire audiences.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe editing and voiceover are precise and hyperaware, with more wit and levity than u0026quot;Goodbye to Languageu0026quot; brought, and the references are deeper-cut as well. I enjoyed the throwaway cut to u0026quot;Kiss Me Deadlyu0026quot; as much as I loved his allusion to Buster Keaton. But at the end of the day, Godardu0026#39;s latest is simply too abstract, too formless, too high-brow to recommend to anybody. As much fun as I had, it went on for too long and had more non-endings than u0026quot;Return of the King.u0026quot; Thereu0026#39;s a solid four or five minutes of film after the credits, as if Godard is begging us to leave the theater as heu0026#39;s laughing in our faces.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut if you approach u0026quot;Goodbye to Languageu0026quot; not only prepared but enthusiastic about what the director has to offer next, as I know many people were, you may well walk out of u0026quot;The Image Booku0026quot; claiming itu0026#39;s a masterpiece.”
