Band of Outsiders (1966)

Seen at the Viennale 2017: Reason for screening was a sad tragedy. Hans Hurch, director of the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival) since 10 years, died this summer. Now for the Viennale 2017 several filmmaker selected movies in praise of Mr. Hurch. Agnes Varda selected Bande a Part for screening. I think, everybody who goes to the movies must see all Godard movies at least once. And for sure the wonderful Anna Karina in Bande a Part.

When the film started I didn't had a clue as to what was going on, but gradually they conveyed the story, and it became clear only after 20-25 minutes. Those 20 minutes I was entirely restless. Well the best part of the film was the character that the girl who portrayed it. She acted very nicely. Whoever has written the character has my regards. I believe that it is not necessary to change locations, characters or have actions to make the film interesting. There are films which are driven only by their plot (which pulls the audience in from the start) and through dialogs. So another weak link I found here was that the dialogs were either too complex to understand or simply not worked properly, because they were not enough to make me bond with the characters. However their roaming around the city and doing stuffs was kind of refreshing and the only thing that kept me watching the film. It also invoked interest when we reach towards the end. In all, the film is a little dull at some points but has cute, complex and funny moments that you may remember for a long time.Message: "Plan properly." Verdict: "Watch for sure if you understand Godard."

Bande à partCriminals come in many forms. But to be successful it's important that you commit crimes with fake tattoos, a noticeable limp, and an Irish accent.Unfortunately, the thieves in this heist movie decided to go with their native French tongue.Taking an English class together, three disfranchised Parisian youths, Odile (Anna Karina), Arthur (Claude Brasseur) and Franz (Sami Frey), decide to fleece a houseguest of Odile's aunt of his fortune.Attracted to Odile, both Arthur and Franz agree to the heist; however, their plan is expedited after Arthur's uncle gets wind of the available cash.Forced to rob the visitor at once, the trio's simple plan becomes a problematic bloodbath.A subtle stick'em up, imbued with director Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave vision, Bande à part is an unconventional love story amid an unprofessional heist.Besides, don't French robbers have a reputation of surrendering their arms if you saw you're German? (Green Light)vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

Momentarily stuck for conversation, three characters in a cafe suggest a moment's silence. "A minute's silence can be very long," says one. And, in almost Dali-esquire fashion, "A real minute can last an eternity." The actual minute, like Dali's clock, melts into a mere 35 seconds. But Godard plays a joke on us by blotting out all the ambient background noise, to great comic effect. What threatens to become profound simply becomes fun.Amateur criminals, Franz, Arthur and Odile, plan to rob the house where she works as a maid. Godard, providing voice-over, gets us up to speed on the plot. But he takes a sideswipe at the, "people who've come in late." Bande à Part has been described as 'Godard-lite' – it contains all of his quirky, Brechtian inventiveness, cinematic cleverness, obsession with 'things that matter' (such as sexual tension, intertextuality, youth, and Paris) over mere details like narrative continuity. There are none of his political rants or philosophical digressions - just a rollicking good movie. In modern terms, it falls halfway between Woody Allen capers and Tarantino satire. And Tarantino famously named his Pulp Fiction production company after the film, as well using the dance sequence to inspire Travolta and Thurman.Franz and Arthur are besotted with pulp culture. They act out gun battles where Billy the Kid is shot by Pat Garrett. It is part of their machismo bonding rather than any childish play. But visually foreshadows the death of one of them. Posturing over plans for the robbery merges seamlessly with mutual desire for Odile. As if both were one and the same ritual rite of passage. Odile, while going along with their conspiracy, often acts dumb and shy, pretending it's not happening. Just like a shy young girl being seduced.Many of the film's references will be lost on the modern audience – these range from Rimbaud, Jack London, Edgar Allen Poe, and the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, to Greek Theatre, Charlie Chaplin and Loopy the Wolf. But they are for fans and not necessary to our enjoyment. Witty dialogue (which seems remarkably intelligent for such urban cowboys) will still delight almost any viewer. But especially the intelligent and 'cultured' classes' from whence Godard came and yet whom he constantly decries. Our hoodlums – reminiscent of the protagonist from À Bout de Soufflé – are depicted in as completely amoral. We might excuse this more easily, given the distanciation and fairytale existence, were we not aware also that Godard himself did time in jail for petty theft.Insipid greyscales of riverbanks in the Paris outskirts are dramatised by colourful imagery, partly purloined from the original novel: "Under crystal skies, Arthur, Odile and Franz crossed bridges suspended over glassy rivers. The moats frozen. A taste of blood was in the air." Arthur seduces Odile with sexy love notes, passed during an English class where the teacher expounds dramatically from Romeo and Juliet. All is larger than life. They drive an old banger: but dream of racing at Indianapolis.Techniques to block an audience from identification with protagonists are often used to get us to think more deeply about what is happening. But Godard both uses the techniques and (rather patronisingly, if equally amusingly) also does the thinking for us. The three characters perform a dance routine – a badly executed but engaging Madison. This time, Godard cuts out the music (but not the ambient noise) periodically. Both to question, and then to tell us, what each of them is thinks and feels. As the narrator is not one of the characters, and so seems to have no vested interest, it adds a documentary feel to the otherwise unreal proceedings (as John Hurt would do, many years later, in Dogville.) Is he poking fun at Hollywood musicals / crime thrillers? Or is it homage? More importantly though, it works. Bande à Part is continuously light and frothy, relishing its own resourcefulness, and serving up a streams of delights.But its strength is also its weakness. The story is too slight to be as memorable as the box of tricks for which it becomes the vehicle. Yet, unlike for instance, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, it does not demand any depth of the viewer. This is about as mainstream as Godard gets. He could have, for instance, used the 'one minute's silence' scene to underline our characters' relationship to each other, an eternity that only they share. But, as he misses no opportunity to remind us, this is Godard's story and his alone. The only relationship that interest him is with you, the viewer.