Khan Khanne

Khan Khanne (2014)

*** (out of 4)

When French legend Jean-Luc Godard was unable to attend the Cannes premiere of GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE, instead of sending a letter, making a phone call or simply sending his agent to tell Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux he wouldn't be there, he instead came up with this 8-minute short film. What else would you expect from Godard? Serious, Godard simply make a phone call?

This short shows clips from ALPHAVILLE and KING LEAR among other things and we basically hear Godard talk about why he's not going to be at the festival. If you're expecting a normal explanation then obviously this is the first film you've seen from Godard. Instead the director talks about a variety of things ranging from him "taking another path" to "wondering about metaphysical questions" to mention of previous activities in Cuba.

Yeah, it's one of those types of films but it's unusual quality is what makes it worth watching and especially if you're into the work of the director. Some might find something ground-breaking here but to me it was just an interesting mix of audio and video from someone who loves to do things differently.

This director has a particular knack for screwing up everything he touches. Why is it that someone with such an obvious major malfunction attains such fame? An infamous scene in one of his movies, a never-ending line of cars on the road, is hailed as some kind of progressive innovation. I later found out that he did it just to irritate the producer. If anyone other than he had made this rubbish, it wouldn't have received a second glance... even on YouTube.