Are you ready to get your Nouvelle Vague on? We take a gander at Jean-Luc Godard’s 1964 film Bande à parte for the MOTM this time out.
For those unfamiliar with it, the plot synopsis from IMDb:
“A triangle: Franz, Arthur, and Odile. Franz, a young man with Alain Delon good looks, has met Odile in an English class. She lives in Joinville with wealthy benefactors and has mentioned to Franz that Mr. Stolz keeps a pile of 10,000 franc notes unlocked in his room. Franz tells his friend Arthur, a swarthy guy whose shady uncle is pressing him for money. Arthur and Franz, who mimic American movie tough guys, case Odile’s house, pressure her to assist them with a burglary, and make passes at her as well. She’s alternately compliant and distressed. Will they pull off the heist? “
First up, the links! Thanks to all of the LAMBs that sent in their posts for this edition of the MOTM.
* Bonjour Tristesse
* Cinema Sights
* Real Reel Reviews
* Southern Vision
* Surrender to the Void
It’s also time to vote on next month’s movie. I’ve included many of the choices from last month, but swapped a few out to keep it interesting. You have one week to vote.
As we do every month, the LAMBcast is tied in with the MOTM. This time, we had a great sprinkling of new and old participants – host Dylan was joined by James and MOTM standby Steve, as well as returning-from-hiatus Courtney and first-time LAMBcaster (but veteran podcaster) Fredo, of Film Yarn.
Also on tap:
* Rants and Raves of the Week
* Last LAMB Standing
If you’re interested, you too can be a LAMBcaster – we love new blood! For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums. Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too. Either here in the comments section or to dylan@manilovefilms.com or to our Facebook page. Also, we’re on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it’s a bad one.
Thanks for listening!
Archived here: http://yourlisten.com/Lambcast/lambcast-085-motm-band-of-outsiders
Please don’t make me watch The Fast and the Furious!
I’m with Steve, let’s vote BLUE VELVET!
BRONSON!
This is yellow, this is yellow.
http://youtu.be/bkJ7aHhRGMc
I don’t really care which film it is–I just don’t want to watch The Fast and the Furious.
Thanks to CS for pointing me over here; I didn’t realize LAMB had a podcast! I should definitely be more up on these things.
Anyway, HUGE fan of Godard here; it was really fun listening to all of your reactions, especially those of you who are Godard first-timers. I agree that Band of Outsiders is probably the best entry point. I started with Breathless and Contempt, but it was Band of Outsiders that made me a fan.
Just wanted to comment on the Tarantino comparison – I basically think Tarantino is the Godard of our generation, not so much in plotting perhaps, but in the way both filmmakers reuse and remix existing cinema into loving pastiche. They do it differently to some extent (both are playful, but Tarantino is much more so; Godard can get angsty about it), but that underlying interest in cinematic language itself is shared by both. Kenji Fujishima wrote a very good series for The House Next Door (now at Slant) arguing for this very comparison – http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2007/10/the-philosopher-and-the-fan-jean-luc-godard-and-quentin-tarantino-1st-installment/. Well worth a read.
Oh, and Tarantino does homage the New Wave in the Melanie Laurent sections of Inglourious Basterds, especially the early scenes between her and the Daniel Bruhl character.
Thanks for the good listen, guys. I’ll definitely be back.
Steve: Whats with the Fast and the Furious hate??? I think the first and the fifth one are really good.
Joel, my friend, I can’t really explain it. It just makes me itch. Part of it might be that the whole “cars drivin’ fast” thing bores me to tears.