Godard is a genius so whatever he touches, cinema-wise, is gonna have some kind of interest. But don´t let a few powerful images or ruminations take away from what this really is: a tantrum.
In 83, Laurence Olivier had played the Shakespeare´s classic with all the talent and authority from a serious contender to the title of greatest actor of all time. In 85, Akira Kurosawa had revisited the classic with his own twist and made one monument of film, a glorious achievement in cinematography. In 87, Jean-Luc Godard was hopeless to come anywhere close to the interpretative and cinematographic heights of those two. He had one thing left to do, though, and one he is the master at, just as Olivier and Kurosawa are on their own fields: breaking the rules.
He breaks the rules alright but rather than the explosive freedom of his earlier classics, King Lear feels like the ramblings of a cranky old man to whom breaking the rules has become the rule.
In 83, Laurence Olivier had played the Shakespeare´s classic with all the talent and authority from a serious contender to the title of greatest actor of all time. In 85, Akira Kurosawa had revisited the classic with his own twist and made one monument of film, a glorious achievement in cinematography. In 87, Jean-Luc Godard was hopeless to come anywhere close to the interpretative and cinematographic heights of those two. He had one thing left to do, though, and one he is the master at, just as Olivier and Kurosawa are on their own fields: breaking the rules.
He breaks the rules alright but rather than the explosive freedom of his earlier classics, King Lear feels like the ramblings of a cranky old man to whom breaking the rules has become the rule.