JEAN-LUC GODARD
Alphaville
A defunct podcast about trading films with friends. Each month I chose a film for a friend to watch and they chose one for me. Then we discussed. There were two episodes a month, first my choice and then theirs. My guest for this month was Serenity Caldwell, and she joined me to discuss the film I chose for her, the 1965 French science fiction noir film Alphaville.
Show notes:
- Jean-Luc Godard is perhaps the most famous of the Nouvelle Vague directors
- Noir is a genre I love, with a fairly poor definition. It's definitely a know-it-when-you-see-it kind of thing
- Lemmy Caution is basically the French version of an American James Bond
- The Stranger) is an existentialist novel by Albert Camus, it's a fun one
- Babar is so damn cute
- The Criterion way is pretty much what we do around here
- Metropolis is basically the grandparent of all modern Science Fiction films
- Blade Runner and Dark City) are noir influenced Science Fiction films that feel somewhat similar to this one
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is what Blade Runner was based on. The book is better
- Lemmy Caution is incredibly well played by Eddie Constantine
- Capital of Pain seems like a breezy read
- Synchronized Swimmers aren't usually performing as state sponsored murderers
- Nineteen Eighty-Four definitely comes off as a pretty strong influence on this film
- Instamatic cameras were super new when this film came out, it was part of the futurism
- Anna Karina is one of the most well known French actresses of all time
- A Wrinkle in Time is a super well loved novel by Madeline L'Engle, with some series science themes
- The emperor is from The Empire Strikes Back, which is a film in the Star Wars series. Just in case you didn't know
- JRPGs are pretty well known for their ridiculously overwrought stories and themes
- I didn't like Last Year at Marienbad. There, I said it, now you can judge me
- Sith lords are also from Star Wars. We like Star Wars a lot
- E = mc2 is a concept we got from Albert Einstein. It has to do with energy. Godard is apparently enamored with it
- Surrealism and Dadaism are concepts, somewhat explored here
- Tarzan vs IBM would probably not have been a title he could have legally used
- 4:3 is a description of the aspect ratio of this film
- Breathless is the French film that got me into French films. I think I'm not alone on that
- A Woman is a Woman is another great Godard film with Anna Karina
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