Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

sergicaballeroalsina Bande à parte is an exhibition of its own style from the title sequence. And a declaration of intent; the Cinema as a game. Irrespective of being part of the Nouvelle Vague its genre is unclassifiable. The whole movie is a great artistic trick in which the experience get things that only cinema can achieve. The entire film fights hard against the boredom of the viewer in the same way that the protagonists fight their own boredom. A playful movie in which through an overactive narration shows us a gallery of actions that could happen in a action- movie and happen. I'm going to try to condense it into a hyper- spoiler: the traffic in Paris, the parody of a duel, a teacher dictates Romeo and Juliet, we hear heartbeats, somebody makes up, Arthur comes through the top of a car running, Odile runs and runs while the boys read the press to us, a lion, and a tiger, Odile sings around, Frantz does acrobatics on a wheel, a fair-shotgun, they cross a river, and play changing chairs and drinks, they smoke, tell jokes and fight, and run through the Louvre and a moment of silence. And of course the eternal and great dance. As the narrator would say: "Let the images speak." The kids move around like children in an amusement park and we want to stay in this movie. The Pulp plot is almost anecdote because in this masterpiece, Godard, as the narrator says about the heroes of this great adventure "saw that there were no limits or constructions" and invented a movie 100% unprecedented. Finally " the movie ends when nothing yet degrades or decreases. " Chapeau.

bandw Two Paris low-lifers (Franz and Arthur) meet a pretty girl (Odile) in an English class. Right there I was alerted to the fact that this movie was not to be taken for its realism--these two guys would never have been studying English. They both fall for Odile. When she reveals that there is a lodger in her villa who has a cash bundle, the two guys become intent on getting the money and enlist Odile as an accomplice. That is the story, but in a movie like this the story appears to be incidental to the presentation.And the presentation did not engage me. Odile is appealing enough in her innocence, but Franz and Arthur are losers. In an extraordinary feat Godard has managed to make Paris look dismal. This movie may as well have been filmed in Detroit. Clouds predominate and the film quality is slightly grainy giving the impression of looking through a light fog, even indoors.It's hard to know how to take this. Maybe that was one of the goals, but the mixed genres did not jell into a whole for me. The jaunty score encouraged me to take this as a joke, but other scenes, like a murder, worked at cross-purpose to that. There were some humorous parts, like having Franz and Arthur wear Odile's black stockings completely over their faces during a crime scene. With no eye holes, they could not have seen much. Scenes like that, and having the three run through the Louve to set a speed record, had me thinking that this could be an absurdest comedy. There is an interview with Godard (looking ominously like Dr. Strangelove) on the DVD extras where he discusses some of the tenets of the French New Wave cinema. The main thread I got out of that interview was Godard's desire to overthrow the accepted techniques and clichés of the past. But there is usually some wisdom in established techniques and clichés do not achieve their status without there having been some truth in them. Given Godard's outlook he can always deflect any criticism by accusing the critic of being too trapped by the past.I have recently come up with a yardstick to help me in assessing my reaction to a movie, and that is how frequently I look at the time. Toward the end of this relatively short movie I was checking the clock about every five minutes.

capone666 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

Murray Murray I found Godard's Bande à part to be much more entertaining than À bout de soufflé and my favourite out of the Nouvelle Vague films. It was in its cool, its aesthetics and simplicity in narrative that had me captivated and I finished the film with a smile on my face.It had everything you could want from a film with interesting textual references, comic quips, a love triangle and the protagonists sprinting through the Louvre, not to mention the best dance sequence to be caught on camera.This is why I want to make films, because they can be this stylish, this cool and this entertaining.8/10