After a grueling 96 minutes of noir and film style of “Band of Outsiders”, one cannot miss the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”. And I will be upfront to say that I did not like “Band of Outsiders”. So with that, let me go through what would have been those shots which inspired Tarantino meant at that time. My belief is that a movie regardless of its time when it came out stays still and the people grow up to understand it. I doubt whether I will grow up to get this. This doubt raises concerns whether this will be the same situation of “Pulp Fiction” for the coming generations? I hope not.
Despite the fact of me not blown away by the noir modern crime style, the shots from the back and front of the car, the approximate minute of silence and dance in the café are innovative and classic in nature. If I time traveled in my mind to be in that period of movies, the novelty in the making would have awed and bored me simultaneously. Now with so many movies taking this as their mother to nourish their films made the original to soak in mediocrity so long that it has lost its awe. In a publicly announced and recognized classic movie, a person undergoes a peer pressure. The peer pressure is to somehow make him or her like the movie regardless of their original feeling towards it. It does need and aids in appreciating the actual content. It is the dust which spreads across our nostalgic antique. We do not like it and blow it off but it gives a rare beauty to it. “Rashomon” has those in terms of those expressive acting and loud vocals. So does the cacophony comedic music in “Uthiri Pookkal”. We wither it off and look at the heart of it. I dusted off the pale and dull characterization of Arthur (Claude Brasseur), Odile (Anna Karina) and Franz (Sami Frey) and enhance the neo-crime thriller of that time. I admired the nuances of innovation but the translucent characters left me bored and numb.
Odile is the apple of the eye of this crime story, or an upcoming story of crime. Two men and one woman involving in a robbery and there are no zillion combination lock or historic mechanical traps to overcome. It is simple and that is in fact the reason for this two crime story enthusiastic weirdo to launch the attack. The only appealing and successful aspect of their mannerism and eligibility to carry on a heist is their driving skills. They make dragging turn and twisted circles before they make their destined stop. Both wear a hat and a solid coat, and once in a while enact a shooting scene with their hands as guns in an offbeat road. Arthur is a straight on crush for Odile. Her eyes are the most talkative and expressive part of her. She always has this doubtful and mischievous face. As she confuses sometimes towards the feeling for both men, even though it is explicitly evident for her love towards Arthur, it reflects her state of mind in the robbery. She sends mixed signals in both the situations.
The movie lost my interest before the double finale of the robbery. It circles around these three characters and goes merry go round for an hour. Initially it feels good and then it dizzies us, not due to the complexity or the repetitiveness but the inconclusive nature and agenda of them. Both Arthur and Franz seem to be doing ok for themselves. If they are doing it for their passion for the crime, the execution is not thrilling and also not clever at all. The passion for it would have tempted them to opt for a more challenging task than trying to get in a house where their key person Odile resides.
The only convincing reason is the luring of Arthur towards Odile. Their eye contact and body language are well choreographed with smooth handling of camera. With the English teacher dictating the Romeo and Juliet, that sequence could not have been better than that. Yet it is short term memory. The attraction is there but it never blossoms into next stage. It stays there with no advancement both in the relationship and screenplay.
The movie is not dark comedy either. It does not fall into thriller or romance or any other thing. It is first of its kind and Tarantino after so many years took the essence of it added his Midas touch of slickness and sickly entertaining never ending conversations to make a trademark for himself. Director Jean-Luc Godard is the failed father for a successful son of Tarantino in this genre.
Despite the fact of me not blown away by the noir modern crime style, the shots from the back and front of the car, the approximate minute of silence and dance in the café are innovative and classic in nature. If I time traveled in my mind to be in that period of movies, the novelty in the making would have awed and bored me simultaneously. Now with so many movies taking this as their mother to nourish their films made the original to soak in mediocrity so long that it has lost its awe. In a publicly announced and recognized classic movie, a person undergoes a peer pressure. The peer pressure is to somehow make him or her like the movie regardless of their original feeling towards it. It does need and aids in appreciating the actual content. It is the dust which spreads across our nostalgic antique. We do not like it and blow it off but it gives a rare beauty to it. “Rashomon” has those in terms of those expressive acting and loud vocals. So does the cacophony comedic music in “Uthiri Pookkal”. We wither it off and look at the heart of it. I dusted off the pale and dull characterization of Arthur (Claude Brasseur), Odile (Anna Karina) and Franz (Sami Frey) and enhance the neo-crime thriller of that time. I admired the nuances of innovation but the translucent characters left me bored and numb.
Odile is the apple of the eye of this crime story, or an upcoming story of crime. Two men and one woman involving in a robbery and there are no zillion combination lock or historic mechanical traps to overcome. It is simple and that is in fact the reason for this two crime story enthusiastic weirdo to launch the attack. The only appealing and successful aspect of their mannerism and eligibility to carry on a heist is their driving skills. They make dragging turn and twisted circles before they make their destined stop. Both wear a hat and a solid coat, and once in a while enact a shooting scene with their hands as guns in an offbeat road. Arthur is a straight on crush for Odile. Her eyes are the most talkative and expressive part of her. She always has this doubtful and mischievous face. As she confuses sometimes towards the feeling for both men, even though it is explicitly evident for her love towards Arthur, it reflects her state of mind in the robbery. She sends mixed signals in both the situations.
The movie lost my interest before the double finale of the robbery. It circles around these three characters and goes merry go round for an hour. Initially it feels good and then it dizzies us, not due to the complexity or the repetitiveness but the inconclusive nature and agenda of them. Both Arthur and Franz seem to be doing ok for themselves. If they are doing it for their passion for the crime, the execution is not thrilling and also not clever at all. The passion for it would have tempted them to opt for a more challenging task than trying to get in a house where their key person Odile resides.
The only convincing reason is the luring of Arthur towards Odile. Their eye contact and body language are well choreographed with smooth handling of camera. With the English teacher dictating the Romeo and Juliet, that sequence could not have been better than that. Yet it is short term memory. The attraction is there but it never blossoms into next stage. It stays there with no advancement both in the relationship and screenplay.
The movie is not dark comedy either. It does not fall into thriller or romance or any other thing. It is first of its kind and Tarantino after so many years took the essence of it added his Midas touch of slickness and sickly entertaining never ending conversations to make a trademark for himself. Director Jean-Luc Godard is the failed father for a successful son of Tarantino in this genre.
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