THE IMAGE BOOK MAST D: Jean-Luc Godard. Switzerland/France. 84 min. Sep 13, 7 pm, TBLB 1 Sep 15, 6:15 pm, TBLB 2 Sep 16, 8:30 pm, TBLB 1. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Jean-Luc Godard’s Cassandra cry, The Image Book is a roiling cauldron of film clips, images and voice-over that crackles and pops with ideas.
The beacon of the French New Wave, now 87, has become the elder statesman of cinema, using film images as part of his vocabulary and pictured words as narrative placemats. He’s an editing genius, tossing moments together like a four-star Michelin chef.
For the first time his voice is showing its age, ironically adding to the profundity of what is onscreen. Whether that illuminates or perplexes is almost beside the point. Godard is a poet with an urgent message, inscrutable as it may be.
