Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.
Godard's Band of Outsiders is a singular, playful deconstruction of American genre cinema filtered through a distinctly French New Wave sensibility. Cinematographically it is exceptional — Raoul Coutard's handheld black-and-white work and Godard's anarchic editing rhythms are unmistakable and influential. Novelty is high: the famous Madison dance sequence, the minute of silence, the Louvre sprint, and the narrator's intrusions give the film a one-of-a-kind voice that no other film quite replicates. The plot is deliberately thin and episodic — a feature rather than a bug for Godard — but it limits dramatic tension. The acting is charming and naturalistic (Anna Karina is luminous) but not technically virtuosic. The ending is somewhat abrupt and deliberately deflating, consistent with Godard's anti-genre ironies but not fully satisfying on its own terms.