#481: GODARD, Jean-Luc: Made In U.S.A (1966)

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GODARD, Jean-Luc (France)
Made In U.S.A. [1966]
Spine #481
DVD


With its giddily complex noir plot and color-drenched widescreen images, Made in U.S.A was a final burst of exuberance from Jean-Luc Godard's early sixties barrage of delirious movie-movies. Yet this chaotic crime thriller and acidly funny critique of consumerism — starring Anna Karina as the most brightly dressed private investigator in film history, searching for a former lover who might have been assassinated — also points toward the more political cinema that would come to define Godard. Featuring characters with names such as Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, David Goodis, and Doris Mizoguchi, and appearances by a slapstick Jean-Pierre Léaud and a sweetly singing Marianne Faithfull, this piece of pop art is like a Looney Tunes rendition of The Big Sleep gone New Wave. 

85 minutes
Color
Monaural
in French
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2009
Director/Writers


Based on the novel The Jugger by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake).

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring an essay by film critic J. Hoberman.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With stars Karina and Szabó.
Video piece

On the personal and the political in Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, featuring Godard biographers Richard Brody and Colin MacCabe.
Visual essay

Cataloging the multiple references in the film.
Original and rerelease Theatrical trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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