Godard's King Lear

KING LEAR
DIRECTOR:                     JEAN LUC GODARD
COUNTRY:                     FRANCE 1991
CAST:                              NORMAN MAILER, WOODY ALLEN, MOLLY RINGWALD
SUPER FEATURES:        Only Godard can do this!!! Whatever it is!!!

It is really nice to see another Godard film, and one that shows that he has not lost one iota of his irreverence, and ability to create pieces of film making that are exciting, weird, unpredictable, unrehearsed, free of boring technical expertise, free of slick and pretentious shooting styles, and above all, with pure thought at work.

AAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, true Godard.

This film may have something to do with Shakespeare's King Lear, but to the common and unknown audience, it might just as well not have any connection at all to anything ( NO THING ) except a mad man, and possible genius, named Jean Luc Godard. As with much of his work, this is (to my eyes and ears) true surrealism in search of a reality through images in film, and the script just happens to be a loose form and interpretation of King Lear. Maybe aesthetically and intelectually it might have something to do with that play, but I don't care. It's Godard, and it's more fun than Shakespeare.

There are several things which are pure Godard, and go back at least thirty years, when he was turning the film world upside down with his ANTI-FILM films that left a lot of people wondering what the heck was going on. Much like another weirdo out of Italy, Godard became an enigma unto himself, and started getting laughed at. Indeed, films like HAIL MARY, are nice and interesting but they don't hold anything next to TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER, ALPHAVILLE, MASCULIN FEMININ, LA CHINOISE, WEEK-END, ONE PLUS ONE, that really left a lot of people wondering what he was about.

The greed in the film business during the 70's and 80's hurt the true artistic creative geniuses of the previous decade, and even, Francois
Truffaut undertook to do some acting to support his habit of making such simple and inexpensive films, which even a major studio didn't want to help him with. And the oddballs, like Godard, were left behind, despite having made many people rich during the sixties.

But Godard, wasn't forgotten. And he has many friends, and they all want to be a part of his work, in any form, or shape.

Lo and Behold, when fools, madmen, geniuses and the like get together, one would figure to have something. I don't think it is going to be a critical success in any form, but it is going to leave a lot of critics who only see shtick and crap wondering what hit them. It is easy to think that this film is about something or other. Actually it is just GODARD mere and simple, and stronger than ever, defying the conventions of film making, into creating something which can stand up on its own, and though based loosely on the famous play, it really does well, as a piece of experimental film, if not a really experimental presentation, or attempt to anyway, of Shakespeare's play.

With Norman Mailer as the writer, and Molly Ringwald (she sure has a knack for appearing in the unusual ones, like Paul Mazursky's version of the TEMPEST) as Cordelia, this film plods along in vignettes with small sub-titles, and two THE END sequences that continue with conversation over a blank screen, as if we ourselves did not do that.

In between, the soundtrack has a life of its own, it starts and stops whenever it feels like, or so it seems, and the characters thinking is done out loud to let us understand something which is actually complex, and not fun. We are a dichotomous people. We say different things from what we feel and wish to say.

TRUE, TRUE, GODARD. He never left us at all....
a must see for true avid film goers who appreciate the oddest things!!!!!
IF YOU DON'T KNOW GODARD, THIS IS A GOOD ONE TO START ON.

5 GIBLOONS