Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "IN THE SECOND EDITION, DATED JUNE 1950, OF A THIN newspaper-like magazine published in Paris, La Gazette du cinéma, a nineteen-year-old writer made a modest..." (more)
Key Phrases: numéro deux, notre musique, Gérard Guégan, New Wave, Anna Karina, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Comprehensive and fascinating, this critical biography of one of the leading filmmakers of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, by New Yorker editor and film critic Brody offers the significant events and achievements of the cinematic innovator who combined an eye-opening concoction of art, politics, music, personal values and social mores. The author reveals an isolated yet driven creative genius who rises from writing articles for the pioneering Cahiers du Cinéma magazine with Truffaut, Rivette and Rohmer to soaring early successes with his films Breathless, Contempt, Masculine Feminine, A Married Woman to the later controversial gems, First Name: Carmen, Hail Mary and Detective. Godard, according to Brody, compares in critical importance to Picasso in his artistry, as the director's puzzling complexity is revealed through scores of interviews with family, colleagues and crew. Throughout the book, the key personal elements of Godard's chaotic love life provide added spark. This is a completely enjoyable and revealing account of an enigmatic director whose singular creativity will not allow him to make commercial compromises. (May)
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Review

"Richard Brody's biography of Godard—arguably the most important, enigmatic, and exciting filmmaker of the second half of the 20th century—effortlessly weaves intellectual history, a personal saga, and an authoritative reading of the films themselves into a seamless web. It virtually crackles with intelligence, and is a must read for anyone interested in cinema."—Peter Biskind, author of Gods and Monsters: Thirty Years of Writing on Film and Culture

"Full of lucid analysis and human context, Richard Brody's book performs a heroic act in rescuing Godard and his growing shelf of works from the prison of myth and theory, from the cult of youth and the cult of the '60s, restoring him to his place as an engaged, hard-working artist."—Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude

"Godard changed the movies as much as the American masters he grew up on: Welles, Hawks, Hitchcock, and the rest. He is as original as Picasso—but unlike Picasso, he has been denied the biography he has always deserved. This is it. Just at the moment when the New Wave turns fifty, Richard Brody has given us Everything is Cinema, a remarkable book which describes with sharp intelligence a great and elusive artist's times, intellect, passions, and work."—Wes Anderson, writer and director of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic

"Everything Is Cinema is better than a biography, it is a novel. And a great novel, in which one discovers the story of a man who almost picked the wrong art form, a struggling writer who became an immense filmmaker."—Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo

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Product Details Hardcover: 720 pages Publisher: Metropolitan Books (May 13, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0805068864 ISBN-13: 978-0805068863 Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #223,481 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #52 in  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Movie Directors

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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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First Sentence:
IN THE SECOND EDITION, DATED JUNE 1950, OF A THIN newspaper-like magazine published in Paris, La Gazette du cinéma, a nineteen-year-old writer made a modest debut. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
numéro deux, notre musique, Gérard Guégan, tracking rails, tour détour, political cinema, politique des auteurs

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Wave, Anna Karina, New York, King Lear, United States, Jean-Luc Godard, Masculine Feminine, Hail Mary, Nouvelle Vague, Married Woman, Anne-Marie Miéville, Three Things, Germany Nine Zero, François Truffaut, Lemmy Caution, Latin Quarter, Raoul Coutard, Les Carabiniers, Band of Outsiders, Ben Barka, First Name, Marguerite Duras, Anne Wiazemsky, World War, André Malraux

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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, but..., September 21, 2008 By  Richard Patterson (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    The thing that struck me as I read this was that Brody seems more enamored of the idea of what he thinks Godard was doing as an artist than he is with the actual films he made - at least with the films he made during the first decade or so. Colin MacCabe's Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy seems more readable and more able to see the films as something other than opaque autobiography. Needless to say either book will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Godard's personal life, although MacCabe, unlike Brody, shows some reticence in exploring his love life. 11 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Two or Three Things About This Book (Made in USA), July 11, 2008 By  t.g. randini (Highlands, VA) - See all my reviews    This book is a must-have for any fan or person interested in the work of Jean-Luc Godard. It is a comprehensive critical biography detailing the working methods and conditions surrounding each film in Mr. Godard's ouvre. It is a massive and lengthy tome filled with erudition. I break my rating down as follows: Skipping the childhood and parental history: 5 Stars (because his childhood and parental history does not interest me... and was already covered in MacCabe's book.) Late 40's/Early 50's background on French critical theory: 5 Stars (for the Astruc/Bazinian/etc. cinema theory... mixed with Satrean/etc. existentialism... along with a dash of vermouth named Brecht) The financing/producing of the films and a history of various working methods: 5 Stars (great for any cinephile) The Karina/Godard relationship: 5 Stars (not enough can ever be said about one of the true goddesses of cinema!) May 1968: 5 Stars (some exciting stuff that I lived through at the time) Comprehensively talking about every short, middle and feature-length film or video that has even been publicly seen in a movie theater, on television, or at various screenings: 5 Stars (`nuff said...) Critical Taste in the analysis of films: 2 Stars I find this to be Mr. Brody's only failing but his taste is somewhat different than mine in the appreciation of the relative merits of Mr. Godard's individual films. To wit: Brody speaks much more highly of King Lear than Band of Outsiders. He rates Prenom: Carmen much more highly than the film that immediately preceded it (Passion). He is not much of a fan of Two or Three Things yet raves about A Married Woman. He doesn't have much use for Les Carabiniers. Or British Sounds. (Huh?) King Lear over Band of Outsiders? Band of Outsiders was poetic AND fun at the same time. Looks easy but hardly anyone can do it. Les Carabiniers is a dadaist masterpiece and includes one of the high points of cinema... (and I paraphrase the dialogue...) ... "You mean we get to steal, rape and kill and get away with it?" "Yes." "SIGN US UP!" (Isn't this as good, if not better, than Bergman's God-is-a-spider-crawling-on-the-wall??) (!!) I liked Prenom: Carmen very, very much. But I liked Passion very, very, very, very, very, very, very much. I guess I preferred the ecstatic/epiphanal shots of art tableux in Passion to the repeated shots (in Carmen) of Ms. Detmers' pubis. Mr. Brody can't see the forest for the trees on this one! As Chuck Heston once said when confronted with wooly beasts, "Get away from me you d--n dirty ape!" (Apologies to Ms. Detmers who more than proved her acting chops/oral skills in Marco Bellocchio's DEVIL IN THE FLESH. A fine lass, she...!) (And I did very much enjoy Carmen as well as her performance... but Passion is a superior work of art.) The best cup of coffee in the history of the world was Godard's Two or Three Things... and even Hamlet never faced the poetic quandary Godard did when he wondered "Should I speak of Juliette... or the trees?" as an Edenic shot of creation is framed within the 1.66:1 ratio. Or was it 2.35? And if you've ever worked on a factory line... you'll admire the perfectly chosen perfection of the ear-drone-hammer-industrial-noise soundtrack in British Sounds. Perhaps Mr. Brody never was an industrial wage-slave or he would have more admiration for the truth in much of what Godard/Gorin expressed in their Vertov films. Sometimes the truth ain't pretty. And sometimes the truth may hurt your ears. IN SUMMARY, though you may disagree with Mr. Brody on his critical analysis of individual films... (taste in their relative merits may simply be akin to taste in ties)... the reading of his critical biography was sometimes fascinating, and almost always interesting. Well worth each capitalist penny spent! 5.0 out of 5 stars must have on godard, September 9, 2009 By  Donna Nueva (new mexico,usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    if you love godard, you must have this book,by THE NEW YORKER film reviewer, richard brody.he offers an insightful biography of godard, and his influences, the reviews are in chronological order, and are MUST READS, after watching the dvds. his treatment of BREATHLESS is packed with information and astute observations. it is absolutely amazing that BREATHLESS was godard's first film. keep this book by your dvd player!		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars A reverse-shot: biographical reductivism and a rhetoric of defamation Source: http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs38/feat_krohn_brody.html i would have preferred this post to be titled "Kinbrody and the Ceejays", similar to its source, but... Read more Published 5 months ago by cine 5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and Detailed An excellent overview of the life and work of Godard. Although some may quibble at elements of Brody's approach, it would be impossible to write a book on Godard that pleases... Read more Published 10 months ago by Larry Went 5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Is Cinema:The Working Life Of JLG - Richard Brody Excellent portrait of JLG & the complexities & foibles of a person driven to question the very form of filmaking. Read more Published 13 months ago by Stephen Mackenzie Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 720 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805068864
• ISBN-13: 978-0805068863
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #223,481 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #52 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Movie Directors

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, but..., September 21, 2008

By	Richard Patterson (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The thing that struck me as I read this was that Brody seems more enamored of the idea of what he thinks Godard was doing as an artist than he is with the actual films he made - at least with the films he made during the first decade or so. Colin MacCabe's Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy seems more readable and more able to see the films as something other than opaque autobiography. Needless to say either book will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Godard's personal life, although MacCabe, unlike Brody, shows some reticence in exploring his love life.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two or Three Things About This Book (Made in USA), July 11, 2008

By	t.g. randini (Highlands, VA) - See all my reviews

This book is a must-have for any fan or person interested in the work of Jean-Luc Godard. It is a comprehensive critical biography detailing the working methods and conditions surrounding each film in Mr. Godard's ouvre. It is a massive and lengthy tome filled with erudition.

I break my rating down as follows:

Skipping the childhood and parental history: 5 Stars (because his childhood and parental history does not interest me... and was already covered in MacCabe's book.)

Late 40's/Early 50's background on French critical theory: 5 Stars (for the Astruc/Bazinian/etc. cinema theory... mixed with Satrean/etc. existentialism... along with a dash of vermouth named Brecht)

The financing/producing of the films and a history of various working methods: 5 Stars (great for any cinephile)

The Karina/Godard relationship: 5 Stars (not enough can ever be said about one of the true goddesses of cinema!)

May 1968: 5 Stars (some exciting stuff that I lived through at the time)

Comprehensively talking about every short, middle and feature-length film or video that has even been publicly seen in a movie theater, on television, or at various screenings: 5 Stars (`nuff said...)

Critical Taste in the analysis of films: 2 Stars

I find this to be Mr. Brody's only failing but his taste is somewhat different than mine in the appreciation of the relative merits of Mr. Godard's individual films. To wit:

Brody speaks much more highly of King Lear than Band of Outsiders. He rates Prenom: Carmen much more highly than the film that immediately preceded it (Passion). He is not much of a fan of Two or Three Things yet raves about A Married Woman. He doesn't have much use for Les Carabiniers. Or British Sounds.

(Huh?)

King Lear over Band of Outsiders? Band of Outsiders was poetic AND fun at the same time. Looks easy but hardly anyone can do it.

Les Carabiniers is a dadaist masterpiece and includes one of the high points of cinema... (and I paraphrase the dialogue...) ... "You mean we get to steal, rape and kill and get away with it?" "Yes." "SIGN US UP!"

(Isn't this as good, if not better, than Bergman's God-is-a-spider-crawling-on-the-wall??) (!!)

I liked Prenom: Carmen very, very much. But I liked Passion very, very, very, very, very, very, very much. I guess I preferred the ecstatic/epiphanal shots of art tableux in Passion to the repeated shots (in Carmen) of Ms. Detmers' pubis.

Mr. Brody can't see the forest for the trees on this one! As Chuck Heston once said when confronted with wooly beasts, "Get away from me you d--n dirty ape!"

(Apologies to Ms. Detmers who more than proved her acting chops/oral skills in Marco Bellocchio's DEVIL IN THE FLESH. A fine lass, she...!) (And I did very much enjoy Carmen as well as her performance... but Passion is a superior work of art.)

The best cup of coffee in the history of the world was Godard's Two or Three Things... and even Hamlet never faced the poetic quandary Godard did when he wondered "Should I speak of Juliette... or the trees?" as an Edenic shot of creation is framed within the 1.66:1 ratio. Or was it 2.35?

And if you've ever worked on a factory line... you'll admire the perfectly chosen perfection of the ear-drone-hammer-industrial-noise soundtrack in British Sounds.

Perhaps Mr. Brody never was an industrial wage-slave or he would have more admiration for the truth in much of what Godard/Gorin expressed in their Vertov films. Sometimes the truth ain't pretty. And sometimes the truth may hurt your ears.

IN SUMMARY, though you may disagree with Mr. Brody on his critical analysis of individual films... (taste in their relative merits may simply be akin to taste in ties)... the reading of his critical biography was sometimes fascinating, and almost always interesting. Well worth each capitalist penny spent!

5.0 out of 5 stars must have on godard, September 9, 2009

By	Donna Nueva (new mexico,usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

if you love godard, you must have this book,by THE NEW YORKER film reviewer, richard brody.he offers an insightful biography of godard, and his influences, the reviews are in chronological order, and are MUST READS, after watching the dvds. his treatment of BREATHLESS is packed with information and astute observations. it is absolutely amazing that BREATHLESS was godard's first film. keep this book by your dvd player!