Les signes parmi nous

The Signs Among Us concludes Jean-Luc Godard's Histoire(s) du Cinéma on an unsurprisingly droll and noneventful note, concluding one of the most underwhelming cinematic experiences I have yet to have. Godard wraps up his alleged exploration of the "histories of cinema" by continuing to chain smoke thick cigars, bring up questions about life, destiny, and time, which seem woefully unrelated to the clips and kinds of cinema he's discussing at the current time (when he is and, man, is he rarely doing such a thing), and ask us that cinema's greatest mystery is "when to start a shot" and "when to end a shot."

These questions could be wonderfully explored in a film or project that actually got to the heart and meat of its ideas, rather than dancing around them, vaguely displaying them, and aimlessly discussing them in a manner that is informal and arguably disrespectful. Godard intercuts clips of films that seemingly have no connection, but he never establishes why he decided to connect such clips together, and claiming that this series addresses and discusses the "histories of cinema" seems to be just purely incorrect.

Godard doesn't seem to be taking this entire thing seriously, continuously editing in distracting text cards and quick-cuts in a disconnected and disjointed manner, so it's puzzling why I've been taking these reviews so seriously. What's the point really?

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard.