What is Reddit's opinion of The Films of Jean-Luc Godard (Suny Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video)?

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No shame at all. Honestly, a lot of people I know (including myself) started watching Godard films by just jumping around each decade to get a feel for what all he has to offer. I'd honestly recommend people start watching a mix of his work from different eras — even if a lot of the post-68 films can be alienating at first — because it's likely to cut down the risk of a person just becoming another one of the thousands who only watch and discuss his work from 1960-68. (That horse hasn't just been beaten to death, it's long been vaporized.)

And tbh, Brody's book is actually a good read if you want to get a rundown of facts about Godard's life through his career. If you can look past the near-total absence of criticism in the book (and the really lazy, shallow attempts at it), it's a concise collection of info that's ysually scattered across many sources and a very easy read. Just don't put too much faith in his "interpretations" of Godard's work and philosophical beliefs, or else you'll get trapped into reiterating the same sensational position. It's great for reading in the same way you would a Wikipedia article though, just a much longer and more detailed one, haha.

So for alternative Godard reading, I'd recommend checking out some of these:

• Colin MacCabe has several books covering Godard — including general overviews, specific eras, and philosophies of his work. MacCabe is like the first step-up from Brody: he doesn't turn film criticism into One Fish, Two Fish, but doesn't have an intimidating depth to his commentary. IMO, he's the "lesser of two evils" as an entry point to Godard that will give you great background info as well as stimulate your critical thinking skills a little more than Brody. But please note that the other options following this are likely to be much more satisfying.

• Wheeler W. Dixon's The Films of Jean-Luc Godard should probably be one of the books near the top of your list of great crash courses in Godard's work. He speeds through the parts that Brody/MacCabe sink themselves into like quicksand, and covers a broader scope of ideas.

• David Sterritt's The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible is another great pick if you want a reading-equivalent of the "taste-testing films from each era" approach I mentioned at the start of thise reply. He covers only a small handful of important works from 1960-1990 — including several of Godard's all time bests, like Numero Deux, Nouvelle Vague, and Hail Mary — while giving great supplemental insight on Godard's experiments with the medium (e.g., film vs video).

• Godard himself is another great (or even necessary) option for getting excellent insight. Godard on Godard (whatever the newest edition available is) would be the essential first pick. Also, there are a decent amount of books out there that are just collections of his various interviews — aside from the ones written/published by Godard himself, I mean — and those contain invaluable information. This one covers a wealth of exchanges between him and various people from the 1960s to late 1990s, for example.

There's also a brand new book written by Godard that I've been waiting to get my hands on, but it can be quite expensive... Intro to the True History of Cinema and Television — Currently out of stock on Amazon. Reading Godard's critical writings of other work is also a GREAT way to get insight into how he thinks about things, so those pretty valuable when it comes to your perspective on his work as well.

Make sure not to mistake the Godard books that share his films titles for criticism btw. I'm talking about stuff like this. These are incredible books in their own right, but they're "written cinema", not criticism. (They're not really even screenplays.) But for sure add these kinds of books to your cart AFTER you've gotten a better grip on his work down the road.

• Depending on how academically/theoretically inclined you are, then you should check out some of the "specialized" critical works on Godard. These are easy to spot because the title/descriptions will tell you that they focus on how a select group of his films (or a specific period) relates to or utilizes a particular subject. For instance, again, there's a brand new book that came out this year that's been on my list to buy because it looks very intriguing: Godard and Sound: Acoustic Innovation in the Late Films of Jean-Luc Godard

• LAST BUT NOT LEAST! If you want some very worthwhile, critical, and FREE writing on Godard's philosophy and work, look no further than Jonathan Rosenbaum's website. You can just type in "Jean-Luc Godard" at top in the searchbar, and browse through different articles. Skip the short Chicago Reader, 1-2 paragraph blurb reviews — look for his longform essays. Rosenbaum can get a bit esoteric times, but it's never overbearing (IMO), and serves as excellent time-wasting reads when you're not at home or don't feel like starting a book chapter.

Rosenbaum also has many books on cinema (not free) in general, which are all pretty damn great options — not just for reading about film, but familiarizing yourself with criticism itself and various ways to approach it. Several of his books discuss various Godard-centric topics at length. So see about picking one of those up if you're interested.