Made in U.S.A
1966 Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Synopsis
Paula Nelson (Anna Karina), a female version of Humphrey Bogart's hard boiled detectives, goes to Atlantic City to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, at an unknown point in the future (maybe 1969). Once there, she learns that Richard is dead and decides to investigate his death. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis (Yves Afonso), a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many gangsters.
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Godard apparently said "I don't think you should feel about a movie". Well, in that case, Jean-Luc, you just scored a big fat fail.
This is the most personally affecting Godard film I've seen, because it has Anna Karina's most understandable, identifiable-with role.Not that I ever had to go round shooting people for vengeance or anything else; it's because of the way she combines emotion and action. When she's alone, journalist Paula (Karina) misses Richard (her recently-murdered ex) so acutely, mentally and physically ... this ends up driving her to do some very cool stuff. But she doesn't do it perfectly - because a) she's new to pretending to be Humphrey Bogart and b) she's somewhat distracted by grief.…
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As the result of a lawsuit, Made in U.S.A (1966) was never completely distributed or shown in America. For what it’s worth and to strain from getting into legal literature (pun!), Godard’s source material here is a novel written by Donald Westlake entitled The Jugger. Godard never received permission, ergo. The film’s title can be indicative of two things. First, as the feature is a film noir (albeit of a lighter more colorful note) it could be argued that Godard is paying his respects to the genre’s roots. Second, having been released around the middle of the Cold War, the film carries political conspiracy and insight that seems to posit America as the architects of war and political shadow games.…
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I am a huge Godard fan, but I didn't love this film as much as Une Femme est Une Femme (my remaining favourite.) Godard borrows elements from film noir here, it being notionally a crime/thriller. However, he typically adds his own spin. Five years on from his first colour film, and after much experimentation, particularly in Pierrot Le Fou, colour is used here with much greater direction. There are several references in the script to the film being 'like a Walt Disney movie, but with blood.' Certainly the colours are heightened to cartoon brightness, particularly the blood which heavily resembled ketchup. There is no doubt that the images he composes are striking.
There is also the key Godard trait of…
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Not bad Godard, but certainly one of his less impressive films. It's one of the movies that marks his descent into the politically overwhelming cinematic stage he would become obsessed with, but it's not as good as its follow-ups 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her and Week End. Anna Karina is fun though.
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I just don't care about JLG anymore. I used to be excited now I am frustrated.
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Watching Godard typically makes me feel like a really poor cinephile. There's so much specific information (about politics, literature, film, extratextual circumstances of the film) that one must know to even make a stab at understanding the film, and I just don't have that. For me, it's hard to get beyond formally *intriguing* because much of the time I'm not clear on why these choices were made.
Gorgeous compositions and gorgeous people galore.
Unratable.
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[C+]
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I just don't care about JLG anymore. I used to be excited now I am frustrated.
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Less outwardly playful or formally interesting than many of his surrounding classics, MADE IN USA seems stuck between ALPHAVILLE and TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER, both chronologically and dispositionally.
I conceptually enjoyed the film's BIG SLEEP-inspired narrative inscrutability but it never really commits to either genuine private-eye thriller or flippant non-thriller, so it just sort of vacillates between them, giving you endless reams of investigation and then telling you it doesn't matter, just wobbling about without every striking a potency that works.
Like many Godards of the era, the film ultimately stands in reverence to Anna Karina's sheer presence, which remains ample but there are other examples which also exist as better films.
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As the result of a lawsuit, Made in U.S.A (1966) was never completely distributed or shown in America. For what it’s worth and to strain from getting into legal literature (pun!), Godard’s source material here is a novel written by Donald Westlake entitled The Jugger. Godard never received permission, ergo. The film’s title can be indicative of two things. First, as the feature is a film noir (albeit of a lighter more colorful note) it could be argued that Godard is paying his respects to the genre’s roots. Second, having been released around the middle of the Cold War, the film carries political conspiracy and insight that seems to posit America as the architects of war and political shadow games.…
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Finally getting around to reviewing some of my DVD collection. I don't actually own that many, I used to have about 300-400 but decided to sell them and only keep the ones that I would watch again and again.
Made in USA is one of those films. The first time I saw it I didn't understand it, and it took a 2nd viewing to finally get it and probably needs a 3rd if I'm honest. But Made in USA is where Godard excels, it's a film that doesn't spoon feed you the narrative, it leaves a lot for the viewer to work out and explore To do some homework in a way. While it might not have the strongest storyline,…
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Godard apparently said "I don't think you should feel about a movie". Well, in that case, Jean-Luc, you just scored a big fat fail.
This is the most personally affecting Godard film I've seen, because it has Anna Karina's most understandable, identifiable-with role.Not that I ever had to go round shooting people for vengeance or anything else; it's because of the way she combines emotion and action. When she's alone, journalist Paula (Karina) misses Richard (her recently-murdered ex) so acutely, mentally and physically ... this ends up driving her to do some very cool stuff. But she doesn't do it perfectly - because a) she's new to pretending to be Humphrey Bogart and b) she's somewhat distracted by grief.…
-
I am a huge Godard fan, but I didn't love this film as much as Une Femme est Une Femme (my remaining favourite.) Godard borrows elements from film noir here, it being notionally a crime/thriller. However, he typically adds his own spin. Five years on from his first colour film, and after much experimentation, particularly in Pierrot Le Fou, colour is used here with much greater direction. There are several references in the script to the film being 'like a Walt Disney movie, but with blood.' Certainly the colours are heightened to cartoon brightness, particularly the blood which heavily resembled ketchup. There is no doubt that the images he composes are striking.
There is also the key Godard trait of…
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Wow, I'd love to see this on the big screen. A pop-art policier full of knock-out images.
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This film is nothing but a political-theoretical-ideological moving image reproach of Hollywood film and myth making conventions. A powerful critique but for those who might want something more it lacks the vitality and potency of Godard's pre-Pierrot le Fou period. I'd recommend renting or buying the Criterion disc because it has several extras that are worth looking at if you're a fan of Godard's ideological commitments and his film making stylistic shift made after Pierrot le Fou.