Godard Shorts on DVD: ECM

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NABOB OF NOWHERE · Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:48 pm

I have found that almost for any item from Amazon vendors, regardless of the country of origin of the site, the cheapest invariably seems to be Caiman in the USA (I think they're in Florida). They are advertising the Godard dvd on the Amazon.fr site,albeit for 1 cent less, but it might be worth trying them direct.

tryavna · #27 Post by **tryavna** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 7:20 pm

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:
Oedipax wrote:Are there any French vendors aside from Amazon.fr and fnac who will ship to the U.S.? I plan on ordering this soon but it would be nice to make sure I'm getting the best deal. The shipping and taxes are pretty harsh from both those I mentioned, although if there's nothing better I'll certainly bite the bullet and order.
I have found that almost for any item from Amazon vendors, regardless of the country of origin of the site, the cheapest invariably seems to be Caiman in the USA (I think they're in Florida)
They are advertising the Godard dvd on the Amazon.fr site,albeit for 1 cent less, but it might be worth trying them direct.

Be prepared to wait for at least 4 to 5 weeks for any order from Caiman! I used to order from them regularly via the various Amazon marketplaces, and up until about a year ago they were very fast and efficient. The last three orders I placed with them (basically about 4 to 9 months ago) took an extremely long time to reach me. In fact, the last order I placed took such a long time that I thought it was lost in the mail and asked for a refund -- only to have it reach my mailbox about a week after the refund. So do not buy anything from Caiman that you want in a hurry.

accatone · #28 Post by **accatone** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:04 am

Recieved my copy today! Looks quite cool but as far as i am still in the office i didn't had a chance to watch the actual DVD yet.

tavernier · #29 Post by **tavernier** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:56 pm

Just ordered this from amazon.fr this morning and already got a confirmation that it's being shipped! That's the fastest turnaround I've ever gotten from amazon.fr. =D>

Oedipax · #30 Post by **Oedipax** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:45 pm

Wow, I have to say I'm very impressed with Amazon.fr. I ordered this on 6/11, it shipped 6/14, and I received it today! The estimate they gave me in their e-mail said late June or early July, so I was quite surprised and delighted. The booklet looks great and I'll watch the DVD in a bit...

NABOB OF NOWHERE · Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:24 pm

Oedipax wrote:Wow, I have to say I'm very impressed with Amazon.fr. I ordered this on 6/11, it shipped 6/14, and I received it today! The estimate they gave me in their e-mail said late June or early July, so I was quite surprised and delighted. The booklet looks great and I'll watch the DVD in a bit...

Well sorry to pour cold water on this superheated enthusiasm but my experience is quite different - ordered a month ago and presumably still sitting in the storeroom gathering dust with no shipment date in sight !!
Where are you ... next door to Amazon.fr????

Oedipax · #32 Post by **Oedipax** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:52 pm

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:
Oedipax wrote:Wow, I have to say I'm very impressed with Amazon.fr. I ordered this on 6/11, it shipped 6/14, and I received it today! The estimate they gave me in their e-mail said late June or early July, so I was quite surprised and delighted. The booklet looks great and I'll watch the DVD in a bit...
Well sorry to pour cold water on this superheated enthusiasm but my experience is quite different - ordered a month ago and presumably still sitting in the storeroom gathering dust with no shipment date in sight !!
Where are you ... next door to Amazon.fr????

Ouch, not quite - United States (Georgia to be specific). I have no idea why it got here so fast, I only paid for standard shipping.

hellboytr · #33 Post by **hellboytr** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:12 pm

I've just watched "Liberte et patrie" and "Je vous salue Sarajevo", and they are breathtakingly beautiful

I am forever grateful to ECM for bringing out these rare films on DVD =D> But, here comes -somewhat- the bad news: ECM DVD does NOT translate the intertitles, i.e., English subtitles are only for the voiceover narration

Also, the surprisingly-NTSC disc is ripe with combing artifacts here and there, but they don't pose a distraction at least for me.

Oedipax · #34 Post by **Oedipax** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:32 am

hellboytr wrote:I've just watched "Liberte et patrie" and "Je vous salue Sarajevo", and they are breathtakingly beautiful I am forever grateful to ECM for bringing out these rare films on DVD =D> But, here comes -somewhat- the bad news: ECM DVD does NOT translate the intertitles, i.e., English subtitles are only for the voiceover narration

So far I've been most impressed with "De l'origine du XXIe siecle" which is just one of the most moving, sad, yet beautiful works by Godard (or anyone) ever. I do have to wonder, though, what I'm missing as only the main voiceover (and one important excerpt of movie dialogue) is subtitled. There's another (male) voice throughout the film, also speaking in french, which is not subtitled. If anyone can shed light on what he's saying, it would be appreciated.

As for the intertitles, it's an annoyance but not too much for me, as I have enough french to make it out most of the time. And it gives me more incentive to keep learning more, since I intend to eventually at least be able to read french.

yoshimori · #35 Post by **yoshimori** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:59 am

Oedipax wrote:So far I've been most impressed with "De l'origine du XXIe siecle"...

Agreed. I received the Documents and ECM DVDs last week and the short that made the purchase all worth while was "De l'origine..." Its images build meaning by associations of gestures, colors, content. And it has a fabulous rhythm. And suspense (working backwards in 15 year increments from 1990 to 1900).

accatone · #36 Post by **accatone** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:34 am

What makes DE L'ORIGINE DU XXIe SIÃˆCLE the most "appealing" is, in my opinion, the fact that it has a pan-european/occidential background - that is (its) history. JE VOUS SALUE, SARAJEVO is nevertheless a great analysis of an image (juste?:), but then of course history as well! The MoMa film is a little ... but has great moments on it's textual level ... The Swiss film is ... it is about switzerland ... have to give it some more tries ere posting something weired/dumb....

There is one thing that (always) comes to my mind while watching especially the "more" essay-like films of JLG (that is to say for example DE L'ORIGINE DU XXIe SIÃˆCLE and not ELOGE DE L'AMOUR): Without a profound background of cinematic and historical images and texts/literature you won't be able to read/understand or feel (depends on your theorie of culture ... ) the images+sounds! It is not just greece mythology anymore (...juste?). "A form that thinks" is for me , a tremendous achivement in cinemas/cultural history, and after watching for example DE L'ORIGINE DU XXIe SIÃˆCLE, you (me) get a strong feeling about this thesis! As far as i am from germany (which is often a heavy subject in this fims) i am always wondering how people respond to those films when they are, for example, from the continent of asia? I know this might sound very ignorant and even dumb, but as far as i think JLGs films are over all very personal (personal point of view) - i hink it is interesting to know ...

For example, when JLG is talking about vietnam or palestine - is it differnt from the way he talks about algier or germany? (i am not thinking about better or less interesting - but about maybe the DE L'ORIGINE DU JLG himself?) Maybe the answer is that the author is "just" european ... i don't know!

hellboytr · #37 Post by **hellboytr** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:09 pm

Another recent Godard-related DVD from France:

ENTRETIEN JEAN-LUC GODARD / PHILIPPE SOLLERS

I don't think it has English subs, by the way...

Ovader · #38 Post by **Ovader** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:33 pm

Take a look at this! This set is for EUR 21.88! Has anyone found a lower price than this one?

Oedipax · #39 Post by **Oedipax** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:32 pm

Wow, very nice. Certainly beats Amazon.fr, especially if you can work in some of the CD-Wow voucher deals. Of course it looks like they won't be selling it until late July, but still.

BrightEyes23 · #40 Post by **BrightEyes23** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:48 pm

does CD-Wow deliver to the states?

tryavna · #41 Post by **tryavna** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:44 am

BrightEyes23 wrote:does CD-Wow deliver to the states?

Yes! It almost always takes exactly one week for an order from CD-Wow to reach my mailbox from the day they send me e-mail notification of shipment. Frequently, they're faster than free shipping from DDD and DVDPlanet.

sevenarts · #42 Post by **sevenarts** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:43 am

thanks for posting that, just ordered from cd-wow. all the french sites absolutely murder me on postage.

der_Artur · #43 Post by **der_Artur** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:39 am

Can anyone say something about the book? How long and how good is the essay, and what are the "complete texts" mentioned by an e-tailer? The book is said to contain over 70 pictures. Does it still contain enough text? I'd be glad if anyone could answer and influence my decision.

Telstar · #44 Post by **Telstar** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:46 am

For that matter, what are the approximate running times of the four films?...

Arn777 · #45 Post by **Arn777** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:45 pm

De l'origine... 16 minutes
The old place 46 minutes
Liberté et patrie 21 minutes
Je vous salue, Sarajevo 2 minutes
Good essay by Michael Althen (in French, English, German) (about 8 pages long).
The complete texts = complete texts from these films.
Lots of photos from the films throughout.
Small hardback book, with dvd in the inside cover.

Everybody should buy one.

#46 Post by **domino harvey** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:27 am

Got this from CD-Wow today for under $30 American, great stuff.

sevenarts · #47 Post by **sevenarts** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:24 am

domino harvey wrote:Got this from CD-Wow today for under $30 American, great stuff.

Good bump. This is probably one of my most treasured DVDs. I've watched De l'origine du XXI siecle so many times I've all but memorized it, and the others only slightly less.

It strikes me that the essay form that Godard has evolved towards over the years, culminating in these shorts and of course the Histoire(s) du cinema (which will become my new most treasured DVD hopefully at the end of this month), is one of the most intelligent and original uses of cinema around. There is virtually nobody else (maybe Marker? more intuitively, Brakhage?) who has so thoroughly harnessed the rich associative capacity of film, in the way he uses editing and juxtapositions and texts and sound to express complex or even conventionally inexpressible ideas. Just amazing films.

carax09 · #48 Post by **carax09** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 1:00 pm

De l'origine... 16 minutes

I'd like to add my praise for De l'origine...! I could watch that bit of greatness every day (and have for the last several). I was wondering if someone can identify a clip for me; it is a shot of a woman walking behind a man in the rain that is paired with a voicover discussing the expression of love by the state vs. the individual. I can't provide a time stamp, but the actual text over the two shots is: "...offered externally via the loved one as object, and internally via the lover as subject."

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Godard Shorts on DVD: ECM