Different Way to See

The Criterion Collection, a superior dvd production company, not only sells films under their banner, but, also, other items such as caps, shirts, mugs and posters. A new poster, they have alerted subscribers of their newsletter regarding, is of the Jean-Luc Godard film Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live). Here is what it looks like:

It is stark and beautiful, much like the film. It is an important film to me ... it literally changed the way I look at movies. I saw it on one of my annual New Year's Eve Movie Marathons. A friend insisted I see it and threw it in the dvd player. We watched it on a projection tv in a dim large family room eating pizza and drinking red wine after watching Noi, an Icelandic film. It captivated me from the first frames of dialogue wherein the star and a co-star talked to each other at a bar with their backs to the camera for about 10 minutes, I think. Totally original. That opening would never be attempted in the conventional Hollywood picture. I had never seen a Godard film before ... and it started the cascade of a New Wave waterfall that I gladly plunged into headfirst.