Toronto Film Festival 2010: Day One - "Film Socialism"

Film Socialism

Director: Jean Luc Godard

Stars: Patti Smith, Alain Badiou

Country of Origin: France

Why I Chose this Film: Why, the last chance to see a major premiere of a new Godard film, of course (and blatantly overlooking most of the criticism it received at Cannes in May).

The Rundown: The film I was least looking forward to seeing this year (I usually don’t have one of those in my lineup) happened to be my first screening, and what may also stand as the last chance I would have of seeing the premiere of a new Jean-Luc Godard film. Overlooking the lukewarm criticism it received at Cannes, I plowed on ahead to Godard’s latest, Film Socialism. Unfortunately, this film was not only dreadfully dull, but an exercise in cinematic pretension. Apparently the film consists of three different threads, but I missed what exactly what was going on. While I have enjoyed some of Godard’s previous attempts at alienation and mind fucking the audience (like Pierrot Le Fou), I believe he has hit the pinnacle of mind fuck excess. What appears to have been a documentary filmed in digital set on barge looks like it has been dropped into a vat of corrosive liquid then dried out and pieced together into a reel. Patti Smith shows up to warble nothing (much like Marianne Faithful’s bizarre cameo in Made In USA except much more useless here) and there’s some interesting footage of two furry cats communicating with each other. The film ends with the words “No Comment” flashing across the screen. Yeah, tell me about it. Interestingly enough, while waiting in line I was accosted by a blonde witch in a track outfit warbling at me about what line I was in. Turning off my Ipod, I said, “This is for the Godard film.” Her face rearranged itself as she squinted at me and asked, “Is that the director?” Before I could respond she added, “I don’t have time to memorize all that.” I hope she enjoyed herself, though I should have asked what she thought sounded remotely interesting about this painfully non-subtitled film (yes, I don’t speak fluent French---excuse moi). 4/10