Band of Outsiders Critique - Essay Example

Band of Outsiders Introduction: Band of Outsiders was the film which was rotating around the three wretched mates in 1964, directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film was known as Bande A Part in its French version. The film pitched the hymn of youthful folly and playful homage to American pulp fiction. This film tracked the trio of unfortunate classmates, formulating a small-time heist one poetically unwelcoming Paris winter. The movie was based on the novel Fool's Gold by Dolores Hitchens. The movie was one of the finest ever work by Jean-Luc Godard. It was a lyrical tragic comedy, perhaps was one of the Godard's most charming film. The screenplay was written by the director Jean-Luc Godard, and was based on the famous novel Fool's Gold by Dolores Hitchens. The screenplay was the firm and strong base for the movie. The depth and contents of the movie supported the movie to became the Godard's one of the best works. The scenes of the movie like the climax scene, a silence after the trio crowded in the cafe and many other scenes had made a significant and narrative effect on the viewers and the critics. These scenes created the essence of the brilliant direction and screenplay for turning the movie into an excellent work in all the fields like direction, screenplay, editing and others. Depth/The Long Take: The Band of Outsiders was known for its most superfluous work from the Jean-Luc, as compared to his other work like Breathless and others. From this movie, the Godard turned himself towards the low-scale movie which turned to be a fruitful step later in his film career. The direction made the haul for viewer to watch the long takes in the movie. The depth that had been created by the director in the movie was accordingly to synchronize the momentum of the movie. The long takes in the movie were outstanding creation work exactly from the director Jean-Luc Goddard. The dance scenes in Band of Outsiders were very much grand, although it was a playful and it came out of nowhere, it really did add a lot to the story. The strong point of the movie were the story, the scenes, the direction and these sorts of scenes. In the movie, the two men and the lady were dancing we heard the music cut off and a narrator come over. The narration produced a soothing effect on the viewer even at that time and also up to the present. The director Jean-Luc had tremendously worked out and described what each character was truly feeling as they looked like in the movie that they were having fun and dancing in a cafe. This small element made the viewers to think, what the characters were really thinking as they walked along and talked to each other for the rest of the film. In the movie, it was described simply that simple, but it added a lot of depths. The viewer would then add in the depth himself. This was some great stuff and was one of the many reasons, why Band of Outsiders was one of the excellent efforts from the direction point of view for putting the sensual effects in the movie. Band of Outsiders was the most poetic work from Godard's early films. This was due in large part to the voiceover narration, read by Godard himself, as the screenplay was written by the Godard himself. When the film's celebrated Madison scene, Godard cut out the music and relates the characters' thoughts, as the character Odile wondered if the men could see her breasts moving under the sweater. Arthur thought of Odile, dreaming of her romantic kisses. Franz was wondering whether the world would be a dream or not. Godard's narration was used sparingly, but always effectively, throughout the film. In one scene, Arthur, Franz, and Odile were in a crowded caf and decided to observe a minute of silence; as they did so, the film's soundtrack was plunged into complete silence. This silence actually lasted only 36 seconds and is interrupted by Franz, who says "Enough of that." This scene showed the idea of the director accordingly to the mind of character. The silence created, was on of the most beautiful scenes of the movie. Another excellent scene was the Madison scene. Shortly after Odile and Arthur decided to dance, Franz joined them as they performed a dance routine. The soul music composed for the film by Michel Legrand was heart-touching, but Anna Karina said the actors called it "the Madison dance". This scene inspired the dance of Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. It also influenced a scene in Hal Hartley's Simple Men. The movie due to its scenes was an inspiration for the other movies. The movie created a sense of creativity of the director in the viewer's mind. In one scene, the characters attempted to break the world record for running through the Louvre. And the narration informed that their time was nine minutes and 43 seconds which broke the record set by Jimmy Johnson of San Francisco. That scene was referenced in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003), in which its characters break the Louvre record. The characters themselves drew the attention of the viewers which created a respect for the characters and the direction in the minds of the critics and the viewers. Camera Movement: The film grabbed for the past in many historic filmic and literary quotes, clanged to the present in a way films of the era couldn't happen and holds up to the future in a way that few films from 60's do. There were many of the cinematographic realities of the movie that had lasted after many years even after the release of the movie like location shooting, real and faux-hand-held camera movement with the effect of the naturalistic lighting, make-up, and pop-culture references seemed routine now, were the true landmarks for the upcoming era. The director and cameramen with their skills made the movie and placed sensual and loving effect for the viewers. The Cinematographer of the movie was Raoul Courtard, who with his creativity achieved a landmark in the glimpse of the historic films. The camera movement from the cameraman was according in synchronization with the director. In many scenes the creativity of the cinematographer was excellent with his stand-stills from camera. In many scenes, the camera remained in a stand-still position like in the silence scene of 36 seconds; the camera position was imposed excellently by the cinematographer. He took the shots at the distance so the practical effects of the acting by the actors came into play. The shots took by the cameraman in the movie were excellent and according to the effect that the director wanted to place in the movie. The mobility of camera during the scenes was excellent. The Madison scene by the cameraman was captured with a excel work. the dance scene and the tragic as well as the comic scenes were pictured efficiently. The cinematographer had worked by sticking to the basic principles and crafted a magnificent work. The opening two acts placed the finale well, but they were punctuated by a lot of silly moments. Although there were the fantastically fun, too-cool-for-school dance scene, which was practically impossible not to smile at. Even the ending was dark, violent, shocking but utterly brilliant. It's only because of the lightness before that made it so effective, which made the earlier silliness easier to overlook. Godard's direction was pretty standard here like no jump cuts, no flashy camera tricks but still the work from the cameraman and the director himself was unquestionable. Their skills were never in question. The use of long takes, wide shots, and extreme angles was perfect. It was a solid new wave flick, but certainly not as innovative or even entertaining as Breathless. There were many flaws in the movie, but still the movie was excellent. Band of Outsiders offered up a fine example of the Jean-Luc Godard at his best, and the fact that he did not imitate himself was an example of Band of Outsiders' inventiveness rather than the other way around. Missing from the film, for the most part, were Godard's signature jump cuts and unsteady camera. In their place, one of his more conventional and straight-forward narratives things were there. But behind the surface, laid the simplicity of the film. This was still Godard, and this would still be the French New Wave. There was a lot boiling under the surface even if it was not as expressly obvious as in Breathless and the director's other, better known, and more celebrated works. The miracle of the cinematography skills used by the cameraman was the reason for the success of the movie. He made the scenes beautiful by his camera skills. The practicality achieved by the cameraman and director was fine example of originality and imagination. It was practically expected of Godard during the sixties that he would kill at least one main character in his movies. So it was with Arthur in Band of Outsiders. The shot captured in the climax scene showed the originality of the movie with both acting and cinematography. Upon Arthur's return to the scene of the crime, he found the money stashed in a dog house to discover his greedy uncle hiding in the trees with a gun. The uncle called out to Arthur, "hey, asshole!", then he shot him. Arthur dropped the money and started to draw his gun, staggering slowly toward his uncle as he got shot again and again, five times in all. After his uncle ran out of bullets, Arthur found the energy to pull his own gun, aim it, and shoot him dead. This scene was captured by the cameraman with mobility in the camera with the tremendous efforts. This was one of the most interesting and difficult scene of the movie to be captured. Godard always had stylishness for death scenes, whether it was like the explosive and crucial ending of Pierrot le Fou, the camera looking away at the conclusion of Vivre Sa Vie, or the use of super-slow-motion during the climax of Every Man For Himself. Every time the Godard used a different scenario. By Godard standards, the visual style of Arthur's last stand was fairly Spartan, taking place at a distance and in a single long take. After he killed his uncle, the shot continues, with Arthur staggering around in a circle in a highly exaggerated manner. This blatantly unrealistic bit of physical acting would, in a lesser film, come off as comedic. Editing: The editing by the editor was excellent. It was innovative in editing techniques and the use of narration in film and for these reasons, it appears on many film critics top 100 film lists. The editing in the film was kept quite simple, so as not to detract from the documentary style of the camera work. Sometimes the different speeds of fades and cuts and occasionally faded up from white instead of the usual black. The editing made the film into an outstanding and exceptional creation during its era. The editor of the movie were the two brilliant person named as Agnes Guillemot and Franoise Collin. The editor edited the movie with respect to the theme of the movie. During a train ride, Arthur and Odile watched a scowling passenger, and Arthur said his expression could mean anything, depending on the story he concocts around it. It was the Kuleshov editing principle extended to life; Godard's comment narrative manipulation that's a staple of the gangster thrillers he was replicating. The editing skills used by the editor was fine enough as compared to the movies of that era. The film was built for filtering American pulp culture through the lens of French and European intellectualism. The film was termed as a well-made film in favor of experimental cinema-verity style, clever editing, often with handheld cameras. It all began here in Godard's directorial debut, and many claims that all modern filmmaking begins with this movie, as compared to the Breathless. The editing characteristic of the Band of Outsiders was not much efficient as the Breathless and Godard's other work. There were certain weak points, but overall the editing was good enough to produce a stand-still effect on the viewers. The clever editing style of Agnes Guillemot, Franoise Collin had superfluously changed the reviews of the critics and viewers. In all, the effect produced by the film was fantastic and according to the reviewer of the movie the movie had all about to fascinate the era. The overall impact of the editing, depth of the story, camera movement, and direction was coordinated by the team was in point of fact. The movie had put the effect for the next movie for inspiration to the movies of the next generation. The classic movie Band of Outsiders was termed as successful movie in all respect and created a landmark in the history. Reference: 1) Keith, Band of Outsiders, Tuesday, August 31, 2004. < http://www.teleport-city.com/movies/dvdjournal/labels/Director:%20Jean-luc%20Godard.html> 2) Bande part, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bande_%C3%A0_part> Read More