Critically described by Pauline Kael as a "reverie of a gangster movie," Bande à part isn't really about the crime. It’s about the feeling of being young, bored, and obsessed with American B-movies. It deconstructs the genre while paying a loving, messy homage to it.
: A French-American duo founded by poet Jayne Bliss and musician M. Banda aparte
In the middle of planning a robbery, the three main characters—Arthur, Franz, and Odile—decide to take a break in a Parisian café. They don’t talk. They don't fight. They just perform a synchronized line dance called the Madison. Godard famously cuts the music in and out so you can hear the characters' internal thoughts. It’s a scene about nothing that became everything in cinema history. Critically described by Pauline Kael as a "reverie
: A Spanish band (Band À Part) influenced by Godard and Sarah Records. : A French-American duo founded by poet Jayne
Before the characters in The Dreamers tried it, Arthur, Franz, and Odile set the world record for running through the Louvre Museum—clocked at exactly 9 minutes and 43 seconds. It’s the ultimate middle finger to high-brow tradition, turning a temple of art into a playground.
There is "cool," and then there is Jean-Luc Godard in 1964 "cool".
But what makes a sixty-year-old black-and-white heist movie about two restless guys and a girl still feel like a fresh breeze?