NOWNESS: Jean Seberg’s still got it! Jean-Luc Godard’s "Breathless" revised and remastered—watch it today:

In Godard We Tryst
The 50th Anniversary of the Style-Blazing, Love-Struck Classic A Bout de Souffle
Fifty years after its release, Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary film A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) still lives up to its name. Setting out to make a movie “as if no one had made one before,” the director spectacularly launched the New Wave of French cinema with this tale of small-time gangster Michel Poiccard (a brooding Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his hip American girlfriend Patricia (the gamine Jean Seberg). But in reality, the plot was never the point—Godard was more interested in breaking every cinematic rule in the book. Going at the edit with scissors, overlapping or drowning out dialogue, and mixing long takes and tracking shots with hyperactive jump-cuts, the auteur gave his masterpiece a spontaneous rhythm. Not for nothing it has been described as the cinematic equivalent of jazz. Shot on the fly without permits, amid the bustle of late-50s Paris, and using the general public as unwitting participants, Godard’s genius was to turn his time and money constraints into virtues. What he lacked in polish, he made up for with attitude, and cinema was never the same again. To celebrate A Bout de Souffle's 50th birthday, the film has been restored for the first time ever, under the supervision of its cinematographer, long-time Godard collaborator Raoul Coutard. It is also receiving a fashion tribute: Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, ever the film buffs (their intricate CFDA award-winning collections are frequently inspired by an obsessive love of horror films and pop cultural relics), have designed two original tees inspired by the celluloid classic which can be found in London’s Dover Street Market, Colette in Paris and Barneys New York. Please view video here: NOWNESS

Nowness: Florent: Queen of the Meat Market

David Sigal's Tribute to the Legendary New York Bistro
Until its closure in June 2008, New York bistro Florent was that rare place where you could simultaneously eat a burger, catch a drag act and—if you were lucky—glimpse Calvin Klein. Named after its owner, the indefatigably flamboyant Florent Morellet, during its 23-year existence the 24-hour restaurant attracted hordes of celebrities, scenesters and fashionistas to the Meatpacking District, its famous clientele including everyone from artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Studio 54 doyenne Diane von Furstenburg. At Florent, anyone was welcome, and anything could happen. It was a place brimming with quirky traditions, where every Bastille Day would be marked by a debauched, cross-dressing party, and where Morellet—HIV-positive and a tireless gay rights advocate—would post his T-cell count above the daily special. Long-time Florent devotee David Sigal (director of The Look and producer of Naomi Watts’s latest, Fair Game, which premiered at Cannes this month) decided to make a film about Florent in early 2008 as a tribute to Morellet’s pioneering spirit and the bistro’s iconic status. When he heard whispers of Florent’s possible closure due to sky-rocketing rents in the once-rogue, now ultra-gentrified neighborhood, the documentation of its wild parties became all the more important. Sitting with the director, one can tell that making the film was an immense pleasure for him, as well as for the impressive array of personalities he interviewed about the establishment’s fabulous history. “The film has a Warhol vibe to it I think, of looking back on an era that I’m so glad I got to preserve,” says Sigal. Florent: Queen of the Meat Market will debut at the New York City Food Film Festival in June...Nowness