Cheap Band of Outsiders - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Claude Brasseur, Anna Karina) Price

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Customer Reviews of Band of Outsiders - Criterion Collection

Underneath the Sweater
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>If one has the slightest interest in art cinema one is bound to know the name Jean-Luc Godard, and if has an interest in French Cinema or has taken a class on the French New Wave one has certainly heard of his films and have probably watched many of his films which have received so many accolades, or comments of disdain, over the years. I fall into the former category myself and have heard of Godard's name for several years after first being introduced to it in Murakami Ryu's novel 69, but for some reason or another I just never got around to actually watching one of his film. Therefore on this weekend, after finishing a big research paper, I decided to finally watch a Godard film: Band of Outsiders. <
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>Band of Outsiders tells the story of Franz and Arthur two young men who are out to make a quick buck so they can live the easy life. Tall and brooding, Franz is not as outspoken as Arthur and keeps many of his thoughts to himself. Arthur on the other hand is much more forceful than Franz and is much more willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Our story opens with Franz and Arthur discussing a robbery they will soon commit with the intended victim being a man who has stolen a lot of money from the government. How do they know about the money? Well, luckily for them they know someone living inside the home itself the young and beautiful Odile who Franz met in an English class and who he obviously holds amorous feelings for. However, Odile instantly falls for Arthur because of his more up front ways and this is what truly makes up the real conflict in the film: the love triangle of Franz, Arthur, and Odile. Yet, can Odile to choose between the two men who intend to rob her home and might only be using her to do so? <
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>Narrated by Godard himself, Band of Outsiders is almost like a novel on film when Godard delves into the minds of the characters and reveals their thoughts. One of the most spectacular scenes in the film is when the trio dance to a sprightly dance number during which the music is stopped for a few moments for the narrator to reveal each character's thoughts. There is also the one minute of silence in which the soundtrack is muted. This can be quite jarring to the viewer because it makes one even more aware of the fact that one is watching a film. The film also sports a very cool soundtrack that keeps up the tempo with the films fast pace. Quite an enjoyable film overall. <
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Confused and Complex
I'm not usually a foreign-film type of guy, but this movie really stuck to me in strange ways that didn't seem obvious when I had finished watching it. <
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>The plot seems mostly simple, with a couple of twists that aren't completely brilliant. I wasn't shocked when the heist didn't go well, and I wasn't shocked when Odile and Franz become lovers. <
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>I think what makes this movie stand out is, as I think another reviewer put it, the way that it seizes your attention and runs with it. It's like going to a community theatre production or a school play and seeing someone with real talent burst into genius. It's always a struggle to read the dialogue from the screen and enjoy and appreciate the movie, but this is a movie that was good even through subtitles. <
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>I suppose there are a few things that I would also say about this movie that make it unusually good: <
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>- It seems to surprise you with unsurprising things. It's more than just good acting and careful scripting. <
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>- It bundles emotions in interesting ways - humor and tragedy, naked greed and pity, lust and tenderness - that push you in strange directions. After thousands of hours of Hollywood crap, it's nice to get a thoughtful work of art. <
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>I'm bumbling through this a little, partly because I wasn't expecting so many people to have something to say about what seemed to me to be such an obscure movie. But I was wrong. This is a great movie, and I'm going to be watching everything Godard did.

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Godard at his best!
Clearly Godard's camera is in love with Anna Karina and this instructs the entire film. That face: Those big almond shaped eyes; innocent, curious, mysterious, mischievous. Odele caught in the prison of her budding sexuality. Oscar and Alex stuck in a web with her, each trapped for different reasons, but all three caught in a struggle manipulated by the puppet master, Godard. "Three weeks earlier, a pile of money. An English class. A house by the river. A romantic girl." A story as improbable as the "legend" of Billy the Kid! This film is derived out of a mixture of boredom, desire and desperation from a filmmaker at odds between love and revulsion of Americana and the cinematic experience in general. One often wonders if making movies is Godard's guilty pleasure. Rather than construct a story, he often seems more interested in deconstruction. His Paris is visually stark and cold, but there is also much beauty. Sadness and beauty: "it all depends upon how you frame the picture." Again I fall back to Odele/Karina. Odele is constantly reinventing herself, bouncing from sensation to sensation and Oscar, Alex and even the director himself are trying to grab hold, but she's far too illusive - even for the puppet master! Godard is in love with Odele/Karina and this is infectious. He is also in love with Paris and American movies and cannot help it. An intellectual trying desperately to reign in his emotions but failing brilliantly. This is why "Band of Outsiders" succeeds so well. There is much more at work in this film than Godard merely trying to be clever; the moment of silence, the "Madison" dance sequence, the Louvre world record. There is a welcome spontaneity fused together with impeccable technique. A scene in the film that is particularly instructive takes place with all three characters in an English class. As the teacher reads the death scene from Romeo and Juliet, the three star crossed lovers seem oblivious to the words, and yet the emotion behind the words seem to color their actions. They are creating their own love story of sorts - but it is a story that lives and breathes inside a movie, where even tragedy is tempered by that good old American "happy ending".