June 27, 2008: Godard's Le Petit Soldat

Recent Viewing: Le Petit Soldat. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

I've seen probably 10 to 12 of Godard's films over the years and have liked them all, though in varying degrees. Breathless, Le Mepris, Band of Outsiders, My Life to Live, A Woman is a Woman--these are the ones I loved. Le Petite Soldat was Breathess meets The Conformist, only with none of the former's charm, flippancy, and romance (despite the breathtaking Anna Karina) and none of the latter's psychological depth and insight. Nonetheless, it was a solid Godard film, full of the jump-cuts, breeziness, panache, visual wit, and ballsiness that I want and expect from his work. It was like Welles' Mr. Arkaddin--a fine film but lacking the full smack of the master's best. Somehow, I wanted Alain Delon in the lead (I'm sure I'm not the first to say that!) B+.

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I liked Sherman Alexie's "stuff i like" list at his website. To that end, here are five of mine:

A Few of My Favorite Things:

1. The children's song, "Every Little Soul Must Shine" - what a beautiful little tune: funny, charming, silly, and somehow filled with soul. K just gave me a CD with the wonderful Peggy Seeger singing it accompanied by a spritely piano that just knocks me out! I've begun singing it to Ian and inventing new lyrics with animals besides Mr. Rabbit ("Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit why're your ears so long? Bless me, Lord, they're put on wrong! Every little soul must shine, shine, shine. Every little soul must shine, shine, shine.") Here's one of mine: "Mr. Possum, Mr. Possum, why's your tail so bare? Bless me, Lord, they ran out of hair..."

2. Any legend that claims that so-and-so survived the whatever...such as the persistent rumor that Butch Cassidy survived the shootout in Bolivia and lived the rest of his years in Spokane, Washington (!). Or the one that claims Custer survived Little Bighorn and showed up in a Sheridan, Wyoming, attorney's office in 1936. Pure bogosity, of course, but somehow compelling in that these stories fulfill some deep, mysterious, human desire.

3. Fly-fishing the North Fork of the Coeur D'Alene river. (No explanation needed.)

4. Cataldo Mission. The oldest man-made structure in Idaho. Built by the Jesuits in the early 1840's. Catholica rusticana.

5. Nino Rota's tune "Notturno" on the soundtrack of Fellini's La Dolce Vita--especially in the piano version which, curiously, reminds me of the playing in #1 above. Soulful, melancholy, searching. Bellisima.

And a #6: Ian, naturally (Scout too!) :