Band of Outsiders has been described as a "Godard film for people who don't care much for Godard." As it happens, I can't stand Godard, who for me represents the worst of French Cinema. I hate most French films because they seem to just be two hours of people dully philosophizing and talking at each other. Sometimes French films are actually extremely (Wages of Fear, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe, City of the Lost Children) but I feel like most of the French movies I've seen in my life were exactly what I hate about Godard.
So, how is Band of Outsiders for someone who hates Godard? Kind of a mixed bag. There are wonderful sequences in this movie. One in which the three main characters decide to have a minute of silence, another where they dance while the narrator tells you what they're thinking. And there are other moments that involve long, boring conversations that have no interest to them.
Sometimes you get a little of both. There is a scene where a teacher endlessly reads Shakespeare, and at first it seems dull and like it's going to go on forever. But there is an interesting silent flirtation that starts up during the reading that is rather fascinating.
So this movie gives me some understanding of what Godard is trying for in his films, I think. And it makes me understand why Hal Hartley, who I love, has said Godard is a major influence (Hartley's films also have long conversations with people talking at each other, but his dialog is quirky and fascinating, which is very un-Godard.
The story involves a love triangle and planned robber featuring a dumb woman and two men, one a major creep and one a minor creep (predictably she likes the major creep better). Like most French new wave films that pay tribute to genre film making, Godard has drained most of the energy and suspense out of the crime genre in this film, so the story is never particularly compelling and the movie's slight twists are poorly done and seem like an afterthought. But there is some interest generated in the interaction between the three protagonists.
This movie is sort of Godard lite, which is why I found it pretty watchable. I would say it's worth watching, even though ultimately it's still far inferior to the handful of French films I have loved.
So, how is Band of Outsiders for someone who hates Godard? Kind of a mixed bag. There are wonderful sequences in this movie. One in which the three main characters decide to have a minute of silence, another where they dance while the narrator tells you what they're thinking. And there are other moments that involve long, boring conversations that have no interest to them.
Sometimes you get a little of both. There is a scene where a teacher endlessly reads Shakespeare, and at first it seems dull and like it's going to go on forever. But there is an interesting silent flirtation that starts up during the reading that is rather fascinating.
So this movie gives me some understanding of what Godard is trying for in his films, I think. And it makes me understand why Hal Hartley, who I love, has said Godard is a major influence (Hartley's films also have long conversations with people talking at each other, but his dialog is quirky and fascinating, which is very un-Godard.
The story involves a love triangle and planned robber featuring a dumb woman and two men, one a major creep and one a minor creep (predictably she likes the major creep better). Like most French new wave films that pay tribute to genre film making, Godard has drained most of the energy and suspense out of the crime genre in this film, so the story is never particularly compelling and the movie's slight twists are poorly done and seem like an afterthought. But there is some interest generated in the interaction between the three protagonists.
This movie is sort of Godard lite, which is why I found it pretty watchable. I would say it's worth watching, even though ultimately it's still far inferior to the handful of French films I have loved.