Masculine-Feminine

“Give us this day our television—and an automobile, but deliver us from freedom.” At first, this 1966 study of “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola” seems the most casual of Jean-Luc Godard's 60s films: it consists of a series of short, discontinuous scenes—labeled “precise facts”—loosely centered on a romance between Jean-Pierre Léaud and Chantal Goya, but with room for the Vietnam war and a quick recap of LeRoi Jones's Dutchman. But a closer look reveals a supple intertwining of quick shots and long takes, themes and variations—Godard is very strict in his sloppiness. An excellent film, still as fresh as the day it was made. By Dave Kehr