Skip to main content

Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville.

I mentioned Jean-Luc Godard's retro-futuristic noir movie, Alphaville, in my review of After Dark. Luck must shine on all of us, for Google Video has it up on their intertubes for you to digest.

Wikipedia, as always, has a nice summary of what Alphaville is about:
Alphaville combines the genres of dystopian science fiction and film noir. Although set far in the future on another planet, there are no special effects or elaborate sets; instead, the film was shot in real locations in Paris, the night-time streets of the capital becoming the streets of Alphaville, while modernist glass and concrete buildings represent the city's interiors. In addition, the characters refer to twentieth century events; for example, the hero describes himself as a Guadalcanal veteran.

Eddie Constantine plays Lemmy Caution, a trenchcoat-wearing secret agent. Constantine had already played this role in dozens of previous films; the character was originally created by British pulp novelist Peter Cheyney. However, in Alphaville, director Jean-Luc Godard moves Caution away from his usual twentieth century setting, and places him in a futuristic sci-fi dystopia, the technocratic dictatorship of Alphaville.
Enjoy. It's a really weird movie (in a good way), if you haven't seen it before.

Labels:

Comments

  1. Rumoku14/8/07 3:11 pm

    Isn't Goddard the dude who wrong Planet of the Apes? I sorta remember reading that a ways back when I needed to know more about the movies. His ending seemed more fun than the movie ending. Or at least I think he wrote it. Hmmm...man, this could be embarrassing if I'm wrong...(runs to check wikipedia)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun14/8/07 3:25 pm

    Um. No. You fail!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rumoku14/8/07 3:25 pm

    Damn...it wasn't Goddard. It was Pierre Boulle. Bah, all those Frogs are the same...so I'm essentially right. Hurrah for nationalism and misplaced arrogance!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous15/8/07 3:12 pm

    Hey.. cool stuffs you have here! I will link you up. Looking forward to more reviews in your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted Mahsun15/8/07 3:21 pm

    Thanks! Glad you like it 'round here. It's barbaric but hey it's home. I'll reciprocate your link.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm going to Clarion West!

So yeah! I'm going to Clarion West this year! If you didn't know, Clarion West is a really awesome science fiction and fantasy writing workshop that runs for six weeks in summer every year at Seattle and is usually taught by a faculty of award-winning authors and editors. Many students who attend this workshop also go on to have illustrious writing careers of their own too. I've been meaning to attend this workshop (or its sister workshop, Clarion UCSD, which is the original Clarion workshop but runs in San Diego around the same time) for years now but never had the courage to apply. Many reasons as to why: didn't think I'd have money for the most part, didn't think I was good enough, didn't think I could leave work long enough, didn't think I could leave family behind, etc. But something sparked inside of me late last year. I felt I should at least give it a go this time round. So I did. They requested a sample of my best work and an applicatio...
Post a Comment
Read more

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...
5 comments
Read more

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...
5 comments
Read more