Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Bande a Part

I was going to post on the Obama quilt show I saw this past weekend, but I wanted to write about something lighter than current events. So what do I choose? A 1960s Jean-Luc Godard film: Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders), which is considered one of the classics of French New Wave cinema.

The movie, available on Criterion, is not a happy, happy, happy good time, forget-your-troubles kind of cinematic experience. Quite the opposite. It is just the ultimate in cool, distanced, ironic amorality--and these are not traits that I possess or even especially admire--so I can't really explain why I love this movie so much. But I do.

It may be because of this one scene, which the cast referred to as "The Madison Dance."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pOXjQLh7Y

And then a contemporary French band, Nouvelle Vague" that specializes in covers of 1980s "New Wave" songs sang "Dance with Me," which either the band itself or some enterprising YouTube fan paired with the Madison Dance. Perfect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQZPozjCX8

1 comment:

  1. Oh I do love Godard!! We just watched À bout de souffle last month. So , so good! :)

    Thanks for your sweet comments over at my little blogling.

    Oh, and if you'd like to discuss lay-away for 'Lelia' do drop me a note over at Etsy. :)

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