Two days after ducking out of his scheduled press conference, Jean-Luc Godard continues to haunt the wings of the Cannes Palais. There is little hope of arriving at a consensus over his latest (and reputedly last) film. Some say Film Socialism is an eccentric masterpiece; others that it's an eccentric mess. File me in the latter camp. My sense is that old age has soured Godard: he has grown so disdainful of his audience, and society in general, that he can barely be bothered to invite us in anymore. Again, I fear I was duped by the title. Isn't "socialism" about inclusivity, about pulling together and meeting as equals? Film Socialism has no interest in that. It is Godard's arrogant repudiation of the world around him; a burst of lofty non-communication. Crucially, the subtitles are rendered in what he has described as "Navajo English", a kind of semiotic sloganeering that strips out the verbs and teeters on the verge of nonsense. "Spacial form egoism. Empire or tourism." I'm betting the film makes a little more sense in the original French. But only a little.
So anyway, that was Film Socialism with its Navajo English. Some like. Don't like. Morning cloudy. Coffee or juice. Raoul!
hooray! now that obligatory guardian douche has given us his 2 cents you KNOW its gonna be great. if there was any doubt in your mind that this film is going to excellent there can't be anymore, because this guy hates it.