I had some spare time this week, so I took the opportunity to go downtown to my favorite New York City cinema: Film Forum. There is always something screening there that I want to see…either a documentary that I missed, or a new obscure work of art from an independent filmmaker and they often have great retrospectives.

This time, I went to catch a couple of Jean-Luc Godard’s works from the early 60s.

First was “Vivre Sa Vie” from 1962, which you can catch May 30th for a week. This stars Godard’s muse and wife Anna Karina as a record store clerk who descends into prostitution.
Then I saw “Une Femme Est Une Femme” (1961) also with Karina. Godard was one of the fathers of the french “Nouvelle Vague”…and it’s easy to understand how shocking and new his work must have seemed back in the sixties. To us in the year 2008…jump cuts, flashes forward and back, ellipses, voice over and words written on screen don’t seem very revolutionary. But it’s immensely enjoyable to watch Godard’s work and see the modern day filmmakers he has obviously inspired and influenced.

Would we ever have had “pulp fiction” without Godard? Surely Uma Thurman’s black bob owes a debt to Karina’s hair in “Vivre Sa Vie.” And when you watch the divinely sexy Karina dance around a pool table in a white shirt… again, I think of Thurman at Jack Rabbit Slims.

Sometimes I wish I could enjoy Godard’s work without being reminded of Tarantino!! But anyway you watch…Godard (who is still alive and working,) it is a must-see.