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My Life to Live

My Life to Live

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: beautiful moving movie, godards best along with weekend
Review: this movie i think will surprise most fans of godard accustomed to his formalism or his quotations of culture and art that some people regard as childish. which it does not mean that the movie is not interesting formally but i rarely cared about form since it seems it might be the movie in which godard cared the most about its content and characters; which cannot of course be said about the more famous and more representative of godard's style "breathless" which not surprisingly influenced some rather shallow, self indulgent filmakers such as martin scorsese or quentin tarantino. the movie moved me so much it made cry. the story of a young woman who leaves her unhappy relationship with her husband to seek an opportunity in the movies but instead must become a prostitute to support herself, is presented in a almost documentary-like style which lets the events speak for themselves and which lets the viewer see inside the girl's soul. theres no cheap manipulative music or exagerated acting. the camera style resembles more the simplicity and stillness of a movie by bresson or dreyer. this style was also used to great effect in "Masculin/Femenin" but here it leaves from the attention of the viewer which will most likely be caught by the great touching performance of anna karina. i cannot do anything right now but recommend this movie which just shows the awesome potential of cinema as an artform.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I give this five freedom fries.
Review: This movie is about as hip as a movie can get. The editing and godard's handling of the montage sequencee in which the pimp goes over the legal minutiae of being a french whore with the heroine is worth the viewing of this film alone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: beautiful moving movie the best of godard along with weekend
Review: this movie will surprise most godard fans accustomed to his formalist approach to moviemaking. it is not that the movie is not innovative in its form but the great thing is that this seems to be one of the movies in which godard really cared about its characters which cannot be said for the more famous breathless which not surprinsingly was most influential in rather shallow filmakers such as scorsese and tarantino. this movie moved me so much it made me cry. the camera just stood there to let the viewer see inside the girl's soul. but the movie moves not because of the music or the exagerated acting. this movie actually resembles a documentary and comes even closer to on when it features cold facts about lives of prostitutes around the time of the filming. the form with its long takes, still camera and closups resmbles the technique of directors like bresson or carl dreyer. this simplicity is what above all makes it be the extraordinary film that it is. also theres very few of the sometimes childish quotations a lot of people seem to dont like about godard movies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good DVD of a Classic French Film
Review: This one of my favorite Godard films. The photography is superb and is one of the best character studies I've ever seen put to the big screen. Anna Karina is adorable here - this is may favorite role of her's. No fan of Jean Luc Godard or art films in general should miss this one.

This DVD is a nice product. It has been remastered nicely and the sound is fine. It is represented in fullscreen format (1.33:1) but that may be how the original was shot. Who can say? Not every post-1955 movie was filmed on top-of-the-line 70mm stock, and will thus yield a pristine 2.85:1 ratio.

There aren't an overwhelming assortment of extras on the DVD (okay, there really aren't any at all), but there is optional English subtitling at least. A voice-over commentary track by any number of film historians would have been a nice addition however. The low cost of this DVD will more than compensate. In fact, do not let the lower cost deter you, potential buyer: this DVD yields a pretty clean, beautiful picture (if a tad grainy)!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One Of Godard's Best!
Review: To be perfectly honest, I don't really consider myself a Godard fan so much. I did and still do enjoy "Breathless", but he's films never seemed to grab me. They never "move me" or seem to carry any sort of "heart". Now, don't get me wrong, I do have respect for him as a filmmaker, as I'm a wannabe be one myself. But it took this film to make me realize, Godard could "move me". Some may find the content of this movie reminiscent to that of "Belle De Jour" and\or "Nights Of Cabiria". Wonderful acting by Anna Karina (and as stated by other reviewers, she was Godard's wife). The character is one many may or may not feel sorry for. The more you sympathize with the character the more you'll be able to enjoy the movie. I know Godard is know for his "disjointed" style of filmmaking, but this film is quite well put together. The begining scene with Anna and her husband did get to me alittle bit. I don't understand why it was shot the way it was. None the less, a very good movie all filmbuffs should watch. Wonderful acting, directing, screenplay, and photography (for the most part)! A Godard classic!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Most Perfect Films...
Review: VIVRE SA VIE is truly one of the most perfect films ever made. It stands in the company of THE WAGES OF FEAR, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, and SEVEN SAMURAI as a post-war masterpiece. It is somehow both formally severe and visually beautiful. Godard cut the film into twelve brief chapters that show us three aspects of a young Parisian prostitute's world: prostitution, cafe life, and relationships. Each of these tableaux show us much but teach us very little about Nana (Anna Karina), our protagonist. Rather, the film's effect employs a moving and fascinating story to keep our interest while we slowly realize the horror of the title's irony and its application to all Subjects of capital. Karina is also probably at her most beautiful in this movie. The camera dwells on her and she refuses to offer herself to the viewer, as the opening quote from Montaigne ('Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself') advises. Instead we are left to think about ourselves instead. A wonderful film & eminently re-watchable!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Print, Great Movie, Great Godard!
Review: Wow. That's all I have to say, is wow. What an amazing film this is. Clearly, along with Breathless, Pierrot le Fou, and Weekend, this is one of Godard's best movies. To sit and watch this movie, is to realize that movies (especially the ilk Hollywood produces year after year) doesn't stimulate your mind anymore, just entertain you.

Anna Karina, as always, gives a stella performance, and like Lauren Bacall, and French actress, Stephane Audran, Catherine Deneuve, etc., she's totally impassive but has enormous inner excitement. And this is great, cause like a Bresson or Melville film, it forces you to question yourself: what in the hell is they thinking?

Why don't Hollywood raise up and stop thinking we Americans are stupid, and the only thing we're interested in is bland character development and special effects? Why doesn't an immature filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino (who is detached as Godard, but isn't poetically exuberant nor socially/politically educated as Godard) grow up and stop thinking we all want these shallow movies, that carry a comic book sensibility, but no depth? Its as though the rest of the world has grown up, and Hollywood is still limping behind, trying to catch up with the mature European cinema.

Thank God for Wong Kar-Wai (the closet thing we have to Jean-Luc Godard) who, in each film, grabs you, forces you to seat in your seat, and work the answers out, instead of spoon feeding them to you. One will hope that our MTV generation of filmmakers (Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, etc.) will soon grow up and produce films that will intellectualize your mind, instead of just entertaining you, like pornography.

And yes, this is another film that helped Tarantino create this so-called, blatantly false (hope you're reading this Roger Ebert) Tarantino-esque style that Godard created way before anyone heard of Pulp Fiction.


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