The One Life of Two Women in Jacques Rivette’s ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’
Céline and Julie Go Boating transcends its mystic device of hijacked cinéma verité to present an authentic idea of truth in the contrived world of celluloid.
french new wave
The Conception of Morality in Éric Rohmer’s ‘Six Moral Tales’
Éric Rohmer isn't interested in a pure critique of misogyny; his moral tales are mere observations on how we use other people to serve our interests and how we invent narratives from our relationships through which we define ourselves.
A Private Revolution: Jean-Luc Godard’s Second Wave
Jean-Luc Godard's cinematic oddities First Name: Carmen, Détective, and Hélas pour moi, newly released on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, embody the vast landscape of possibilities open to the director during the '80s and '90s.
How Is It That Agnès Varda Is So Well Known — Yet So Unknown?
Our pop culture landscape is controlled by capitalistic saturation and a deeply-entrenched machismo ethic. It might not be powerful enough to erase Agnès Varda's genius, but it is shameless enough to eliminate her from the common discourse.
Rivette’s ‘Paris nous appartient’ Nods to McCarthyism, Communist Witch Hunts, and Cold War Paranoia in the USA
Jacques Rivette's first French New Wave film, Paris nous appartient, is infused with the look and feel of Hollywood's more paranoid, conspiratorial and apocalyptic films noir.
‘Agnès Varda between Film, Photography and Art’
When we objectify Agnès Varda as a "harmless granny" in pop culture, we lose perspective of her important work. DeRoo's book works toward rectifying this.
A Feminist Adventure Unfolds When ‘Celine and Julie Go Boating’
Jacques Rivette's film features two female characters who exhibit feminine strength and solidarity in a masculine world.
Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Le Samouraï’ Plays with the Perils of the Loner
Under the lens of cultural and historical context, as well as understanding the reflective nature of popular culture, it's hard not to read this film as a cautionary tale about the limitations of isolationism.
The Magical Presence of Anna Karina: More Than Godard’s Muse
It’s not that Anna Karina couldn’t act, but that she didn’t have to. Her physical presence was the art, and her beauty, in and of itself, was a significant contribution to the culture.