Film-Tract n° 1968 (1968)
In the 1968 movement in Paris, Jean-Luc Godard made a 16mm, 3-minute long film, Film-tract No.1968, Le Rouge, in collaboration with French artist Gérard Fromanger. Starting with the shot identifying its title written in red paint on the Le Monde for 31 July 1968, the film shows the process of making Fromanger’s poster image, which is thick red paint flows over a tri-color French flag. —Hye Young Min
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Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
And then the man used the silence to create and cause an effect and it was brilliant! Jean-Luc Godard makes an artistic silent film of simple presentation but powerful and deeper effect. "Film-Tract n° 1968" talks about his views on France during that year, infamously notorious for the many strikes and protests around the nation; social and political movements either denouncing or supporting De Gaulle's government; May 1968, the trade of leadership at the French Cinemateque, and countless others. And above all, Godard aims here at the violence of those events. JLG doesn't use archive images, or his elegant title cards jumping on the screen. His speech is more meaningful and eloquent with the lack of words, titles, his stars or anything similar. Yet despite the difference to what we're used to see from him, it does feel like it's a film made by him. He expresses his views by giving us a red background, completely still for a minute than moves the camera to show us that all that red is a paint that drains through a white background and a little further away it also takes over a blue background. A silent protest that resonates with impact and force, a lot better than many of his wordy pictures. He's not alone creating such artistic view, so kudos to his partner here, Mr. Gérard Fromanger. 8/10