For Ever Mozart

Jean-Luc Godard's 1996 feature charts the odyssey of an aging, nameless director and a group of actors as they car-camp through the Sarajevo war zone on the way to shoot a 19th-century play on the beach. When they're taken prisoner by bizarre, barbaric revolutionaries it's like a detour through Godard's 1960s classic Weekend, but without the searing satire. This all comes off more like a modernist farce, complete with cartoonish gags (the director auditions actors but cuts them off while they're in the middle of their first word) and sudden arbitrary impulses from the characters, revolving around the art and business of filmmaking. In other words, it's classic Godard, with a soundtrack crammed with overlapping voices and a script of call-and-response dialogue and philosophical conversations that come out of nowhere, punctuated with explosions of violence and death. While For Ever Mozart has its champions, it's among Godard's lesser works—a sketchy, frequently beautiful, but more often hard-to-follow film that touches on familiar themes but appears to be hastily scripted, spontaneously shot, and impulsively improvised. No Godard film is without merit, but several others (including Hail Mary, available in a newly remastered edition) are more essential. Presented on Blu-ray and DVD, extras include audio commentary by critic and TIFF Cinematheque senior programmer James Quandt, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a booklet with an essay by critic and author Fergus Daly and an interview with Godard conducted by filmmaker Hal Hartley. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)