Meetin' WA

Most people don't understand what Godard's aiming at. That's sad, but not surprising. They're so caught up in conventional storytelling techniques (of which a great non-mainstream auteur like Woody Allen is also part of) that Godard's intellectual Brechtian devices appear to be sickeningly pretentious. In truth, all his jarring visual and tonal interruptions and blanks left for the audience to ponder on serve as a means to scrutinize media manipulation.

And his interview with Woody is one of the finest examples of this method. While Godard's questions and - to a lesser degree - Allen's answers are highly interesting and profound in themselves, particularly those revolving around the issues of television influencing habits of perception, it's really Godard's handling of the material itself that provides ample food for thought. (But, of course, only for those willing to do so.) By the way, Godard's style of film-making should not be mistaken as a lack of respect towards Allen. On the contrary...

8 out of 10 apparently nervous Woody Allens

I managed to obtain this from a seller on Ebay (quite expensive).

The picture quality was very, very poor (B- or lower) but from a distance it was watchable. I don't know why I'm complaining - this is extremely rare ! Anyway, this short was a different approach on interviews. I mainly watched it, thinking that Woody Allen was interviewing Godard (the title states the opposite, but I was wishful thinking) but when you watch and observe Godard's curiosity into Woddy's style & structure of film-making, it becomes very profound and interesting.

Godard just sitting there puffing away at his cigar letting his questions just roll off his tongue.

Woody on the other side, sometimes seems nervous - as if there might be an intellectual clash.

It could have been longer but try and obtain a copy if you get the chance

Woody Allen - Jean-Luc Godard? This might seem an odd combination to many American film lovers, at least to much of Woody's loyal audience, trying hard to be highbrow and intellectual, but not perhaps all that much interested in the challenges of a mischief-maker like JLG. As it happens this is a highly entertaining and somewhat informative look at both filmmakers as they are passing through middle age (Allen 51, Godard 56), lamenting the loss of cinematic and artistic innocence through the corruption of TV and at the same time celebrating their own longevity and continued relevance in the small world of art-cinema. I was especially intrigued by Godard's use of title cards and the couple of shots of him playing around with videocassettes and books, and a still photo near the end of the film that I think was of Allen around the "Take the Money and Run" days but may have in fact been Godard; both are small, owlish men and the similarities both physical and intellectual are certainly played up here. This definitely belongs to JLG's video-work era but there are spots where the oncoming elegiac late-period film works seem to be foreshadowed, though perhaps that's just because I have this on a tape with "Nouvelle Vague." I'm not sure what this tells me about Allen on a deep level that I didn't already know or feel, but I do know that it makes me want to watch "Hannah and Her Sisters" again right away. Lovely and inventive.

Jean-Luc Godard and Woody Allen. Just by those two names you will know if this short interview-film, which has been seen by likely less than a hundred people since it was filmed almost twenty years ago, will be worth to see (and 80's era Godard and Woody no less). Basically, you get Godard's madman sensibilities as a filmmaker, playing around with the structure of a director interview, and you get Woody Allen's insights. Ironically, I think this was made for video, or at least shot on it (maybe it was shot on film, I'd have to look it up), and more than half of the interview is based around the idea (that Godard proposes and Allen agrees with when understanding) that television is a corrupter of the audience.

But along with questions, and even more interesting answers, about television, there are also questions and answers about the film-making process, and how Allen feels about it. While at times Godard tries to back up to TV again, one does get of course what Allen is like- immensely underrating his films once finished, and at times finding the film-making process to be more of a distraction from the other horrors of the world. Godard does (and sometimes doesn't) succeed in adding to these words of Allen's with spliced in images from his films, other filmmakers (Orson Welles), and New York city buildings, among other swell oddities.

Really, it isn't the most intriguing interview with Woody to date, but to see what his take on film-making, TV, Hannah and Her Sisters, and other things was like then in 86 is worth a peek. That it IS Godard at least brings some initial fascination, then some frustration, then, well, acceptance. This is a fairly courageous way of presenting what could be standard, pat-on-the-back interview fare (Godard does pay a compliment once or twice 'Hannah', though that's it, in his old-school Cashiers du Cinema ways). How Allen feels about his films won't be news to those who saw Richard Shickel's documentary on him.

But just to have this film in your possession- if you would feel as strong a compulsion to see it based on the two names of the directors (known in their countries as the most intellectual, stimulating, &/or pretentious filmmakers around)- is a temptation that somehow lured me in. However, if you do seek it out, know well that the copy of the video will more likely than not be watchable only up to a point. It's literally one of those (perhaps minor) works by a director that end up on lists of all-time rarities, for better or worse.

AMENDMENT: This interview is now available on certain sites online.

Meeting Woody Allen (1986)

*** (out of 4)

Jean-Luc Godard's documentary/interview with Woody Allen was filmed in NYC just after the release of Hannah and Her Sisters. Allen seems at ease with Godard speaking on a wide range of subjects from actors and their looks to silent films and so on. A lot of the talk deals with TV and how it has changed movies and those who watch them. There's also a great segment with Allen talking about how he hates all of his pictures. It was nice seeing a document of Allen from this time period but you've gotta remember that this is Godard so the film isn't just a straight interview. You've got all sorts of weird edits, a jazz soundtrack and various other things that can get frustrating but I guess that's just the director's trademark. The film runs 25-minutes and is worth watching for fans of the two legends.