Soigne ta droite

Don't you hate self-obsessed writers, directors and stars? Perhaps not after this. Jean-Luc Godard is all three in a wry drama looking very close to home. The lead character, y'see, is an annoyingly perfectionist film-maker determined to wring every last drop of the finest performance possible from his stars. No lengths are too long for this guy as he begs his players to put their souls into their performances. Perhaps it's an overdue, overwrought apology to the actors he's worked with, but Godard fashions a watchable, knowing drama. If you liked "Living In Oblivion", this is a good companion piece: it's not always the case that troubles are anyone's fault but the director's.

Godard is having fun here (fun is not characteristic of most of his work). He's playing the idiot of Dostoievsky's novel, a director who won't compromise his work. As he did in One plus One with the Rolling Stones, he's working with a band, Les Rita Mitsouko, as they put together the various strands of their new song. I suspect the challenge of constructing watchable material out of the recording studio chaos was the appeal for Godard.

The story is goofy; more like a Pierre Richard slapstick comedy than the intellectual films of the 60's. This must hold the record, for a Godard film, of cameo performances. The only really memorable sequence is on board a plane; with the passengers crammed in their seats and doing lots of shtick, it's a little like Duck Soup.

As usual the one thing to predict with Jean-Luc Godard is that he'll be unpredictable in maniacal and poetic ways. Luckily this isn't quite as holy-hell-what-in-sweet-Jebuz's-name-is-this like King Lear, which he also made that year. One might call it low-key if it weren't trying to be both zany or intensely deep. At the least, and if nothing else this is a plus, one can kind of follow what little of a story is going on here. Godard himself plays "The Prince", aka "The Idiot" out of Dostoyevky's novel, and oddly enough when Dostoyevsky's classic comes up as one of Godard's rumination-narrations it actually comes off interesting, for, well, all of two minutes. He's a filmmaker looking for financing for a project and takes a flight somewhere on a small plane. Meanwhile, a very, VERY 1980s rock/pop/techno band is working on a new album. And meanwhile, some menial worker who is a part-time caddy is going through some heartbreak and constantly has a dance with a naked woman who isn't really there.

So, as usual, that's the best one can gather from Godard is a cliff-notes summary. Since it is the name of the game that Godard will have his barrage of poetic thoughts and pondering, mostly about death and being in a certain place in time, and some of them fall totally flat with me (and I love poetry, and can usually dig Godard's sense of poetry, but here it's only marginally not as bad as his other late 80s work). The thing that makes it not as boring as it might have been, aside from the random shots of the man with the naked woman dancing, is the rock band. I've never heard them or seen them before, but they work very well when Godard cuts to them. In a sense this makes it like a companion, if not sequel, to Sympathy for the Devil which was Godard following the Rolling Stones in the recording studio putting together their hit.

Keep Your Right Up is not as good or interesting as that, even just as a piece of technical film-making; Godard is still terrific when it comes to compositions, but there isn't the same wonderment as in seeing tracking shots around the Rolling Stones. In this case it works just because of an unfamiliarity with the musicians and the music- some of it is kind of weak or just too slow, like a French Joy Division, some of it really, really good, like foot-tap kind of work. One almost wishes Godard would focus on just one thing and stick with it, but as is the way with a cranky and stubborn poet-madman of the French new-wave in his 50s it's his way or the existential highway. It's definitely not the worst he's done, nor the best... it's just 'there', more for die-hards than anyone else. 5.5/10

Keep Your Right Up (1987)

* (out of 4)

As is the case with a lot of the films from director Jean-Luc Godard, trying to describe the "story" is somewhat pointless because there isn't one. What little story you can get out of this film is that Godard plays a film director who is given twenty-four hours to complete a movie and he must then deliver the movie within that same time. Godard takes the film can and goes on an adventure to try and deliver the product.

KEEP YOUR RIGHT UP is a film that seems to get mixed reviewed even by the biggest fans of the director. If you enjoy Godard's style then I'd say you've got a good short of enjoying this picture but it just didn't work for me as you can clearly see from my rating. Is this an awful movie or a poorly made one? Absolutely not but at the same time it's rather maddening trying to watch it.

Perhaps maddening is the wrong word because I enjoy Godard's style when the "story" itself is something that interests me or at least holds my attention. The problem here is that the story is just one I found to be incredibly boring and I thought the various characters were boring as well. I've read that this here was an attempt to pay homage to Jerry Lewis and if so it really didn't work. The comedy and various gags just didn't work for me as I found them to be quite unfunny.

Godard is a natural on the screen so his performance was actually one of the bright spots of the film. As I said, if you enjoy Godard's style then you'll probably enjoy this more than I did.

Clusters of surrealism being tossed from one moment to the next. Cinema is a deranged marionette and Godard is gleefully tugging at its strings, making it move in twisted, demented contortions. This marionette's movements are often dark, sometimes sad, and very funny. this marionette is Godard's hidden gem "Keep Your Right Up", an obscure avant garde comedy (?) that is in equal parts a surreal comedy and philosophical journey through Godard's unconventional and sometimes warped mind. It's also a musical at times, as well as a strange melodrama...it also works as cinematic poetry...it also works as an occasionally pretentious, symbolism infested art house film...this movie is many things.

Often entertaining and sometimes simply laugh out loud hilarious, this weird experimental flick is unlike almost any other film there is. Some may call it random, some may call it genius. Plenty will likely find it boring, but i found it to be uproariously entertaining, although flawed. The best thing this weird little movie has going for it is its sense of humor. Godard is able to inject jokes in the middle of this chaotic mess that range from the dark to the absurdist to the satirical to the witty. Both physical and verbal forms of comedy are utilized, sometimes at the same time, and it is endlessly fun to view some of these wacky, wildly unpredictable bits. The rest of the film shines with its great moments, but as a whole is a bit too messy to be hailed as a masterpiece. This is one of those movies that I really need to watch multiple times in order to even get the faintest idea of whatever Godard was going for. Perhaps this whole movie was one of his practical jokes; it has no meaning, it's just a bunch of silly fun that happens to be jammed with literary references, philosophical rambling, bizarre editing, music numbers, and graceful poetry. Considering the rest of Godard's insane filmmaking career, such a combination of mood and oddities would not be surprising if it was revealed to be some kind of puzzling prank.

Whatever Godard's intentions may be, he still created a damn fine avant garde-comedy-drama-fantasy-musical-satire-meta-whatever-I don't f*cking know film that is likely to at the very least amuse those who are used to more nonlinear and experimental filmmaking. It will warp your mind, and maybe even enrage you, but it will also tickle your funny bone in the process.