Recently I decided to give Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot Le Fou another viewing. I wanted to watch it again, partially because, well, duh, I love movies, but also because I simply didn't like it the first time I watched it five years ago. So, I decided to give it another shot, figuring that maybe I was simply in a mood before which kept me from appreciating it. I always think that this is a real danger with movies, because they're so emotionally driven and also because they blow by in less than two hours, which increases the chances that you might have simply not been willing/able to play your part in the movie experience (as compared to say being consistently in a bad mood for the forty hours that it might take to get through a Dickens novel). So, I did have a different response, in that I think I disliked it more than my first viewing. Obviously, I'm in the minority here, because many folks consider Pierrot Le Fou to be one of Godard's best films. I routinely like the film's stars, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (including in other Godard films), but in this film I simply didn't care about either of them, and those classic Godard-isms that I often consider brilliant simply annoyed me this time. It's not that I disliked Godard, because I love many of his films (Breathless, Bande a part, Vivre la vie, Masculine/Feminine) but there are other times that I may just like the idea of Godard more than Godard. Or maybe I was just in another bad mood, and I'll check back the next time I watch it with an updated review.
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