# Your Preeminent Film...



## Avey

Does anyone get truly passionate, seriously evocative about film? *What films? *

I could write hours on certain movies, but I am curious if any of you are so passionate about certain films that you could just pour over pages, threads, post --

...the point being that *this movie*, or actually *this preeminent film* evokes something innate and honest in you. How else do you say, "Hey, my favorite, most significant film, to me, if you have to ask, is _________..."


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## Albert7

Funny Games directed by Michael Haneke... both versions of course.


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## Avey

Wow, was not expecting to see that. But fair enough. More than fair!


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## brotagonist

Movies take up too much of my precious literature and classical music time.


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## tdc

David Lynch movies changed the way I see cinema, and I started looking at film as an art form that can be used for profound creative expression. Some other films I love include _The Big Lebowski_, and _No Country For Old Men_ by the Coen Brothers, _Satyricon_ by Fellini and _Idiocracy _by Mike Judge.


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## Guest

Write about them? I'd rather watch them of course!

I might write a word or two about Capra, Houston/Bogart, British comedy thrillers and war movies, Spielberg, Coen Bros, Kubrick, Sci-fi (from 30s to today)...

When it comes to French/German/Bergman arthouse, however, I'm largely illiterate.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

The Stalker by Tarkovsky, which I've never seen and I'm not very good at appreciating the artform of film but I read an essay about and I decided has a very deep psychological penetration that goes well beyond anything I've actually seen.


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## Balthazar

One of my all-time favorites is Akira Kurosawa's _Ran_. Stunning videography.












brotagonist said:


> Movies take up too much of my precious literature and classical music time.


With a plot based on _King Lear_ and a score by Takemitsu, watching _Ran_ is like cultural multi-tasking!


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## Cheyenne

I was really in love with westerns between ages 12 - 16, they captivated me like little else -- both the American and European kind. There was something so majestic about them. I could write a lot about John Ford or Sergio Leone, for sure. At my graduation the teacher who held the speech for me said he still remembered when I chose _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance_ as film to watch in class: he recommended everyone in the audience (500+ people, ha) to watch the film. It really hit home with him: he said he'd watched it once more a year later.

My favorite filmmaker is Yasujiro Ozu though, the man always affects me in was nothing else does. That vision of life he presented, both in his earlier comedies and his later, more minimalist films, puts me in a world far removed from the bustle of common life -- all else is forgotten, and it's like I find a heart's ease that nothing else gives me. His most stinging scenes, like this one, haunt. I have watched most of his available filmography but I have saved about 5 films for now.


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## Yoshi

tdc said:


> *David Lynch movies changed the way I see cinema, and I started looking at film as an art form that can be used for profound creative expression*. Some other films I love include _The Big Lebowski_, and _No Country For Old Men_ by the Coen Brothers, _Satyricon_ by Fellini and _Idiocracy _by Mike Judge.


Wow I was going to write this exact same thing before I noticed someone else wrote it.


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## Manxfeeder

Avey said:


> ...the point being that *this movie*, or actually *this preeminent film* evokes something innate and honest in you. How else do you say, "Hey, my favorite, most significant film, to me, if you have to ask, is _________..."


If you put it that way, Bergman's Wild Strawberries kicked me in the teeth a few years ago and is still a favorite.


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## Celloman

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> The Stalker by Tarkovsky, which I've never seen and I'm not very good at appreciating the artform of film but I read an essay about and I decided has a very deep psychological penetration that goes well beyond anything I've actually seen.


Dude, we have very similar tastes! Tarkovsky is my favorite film director and Andrei Rublev is probably my favorite film. One of the reasons I like Tarkovsky so much is that he is humble and never resorts to gimmicks. His films are full of poetry and symbolism and always speak to me in a way that I can't quite explain.


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## Dr Johnson

I can't nominate one film above all others, (ten perhaps), but this bears repeated watching:


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## QuietGuy

Mine has to be "To Kill a Mockingbird", directed by Robert Mulligan. Loved the story, the music, Gregory Peck, Mary Badham and Phillip Alford. Great stuff!


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## Weston

My tastes run from serious art to ridiculous camp. There are so many, way too many to list one or two, but I'm sure several films by Kubrick would be on the list. Also Jean Cocteau's _La Belle et la Bête_. Several science fiction films that would not be considered high art.

I do love the medium. I wish I had time to write several pages about them or anything else for that matter.


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## Dr Johnson

I've just thought of another film that would be in my top ten list:


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## Avey

All the previous responses have been surprising, in a great way. I was expecting some obvious, generic responses (and those are fine too!), but y'all have put up these obscure films, or at least obscure to me, the lay observer, I would say.

For what it is worth, my preeminent film is *Apocalypse Now*, and I do prefer the _Redux_ version. A couple of P.T./Wes Anderson films follow, and that one Spielberg film about a wild adventurer.

See! Those picks are like way more expected than all yours. Given me some stuff to watch, too. Which is great.


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## Balthazar

Dr Johnson said:


> I've just thought of another film that would be in my top ten list:


Amazing film! So many great quotes...

"Here.... Hare.... Here.... Here hare here!"

"We're making time!"

"That is an unfortunate political decision."

I may need to watch this again soon.


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## Albert7

Here's another movie I would rattle on aeons about in terms of beauty and philosophy etc. etc.


__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


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## Morimur

Sátántangó (Director: Béla Tarr)

One among many great films I love.


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## Dr Johnson

Balthazar said:


> Amazing film! So many great quotes...
> 
> "Here.... Hare.... Here.... Here hare here!"
> 
> "We're making time!"
> 
> "That is an unfortunate political decision."
> 
> I may need to watch this again soon.


Practically every line is worth quoting. One of my favourites:

"We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now!"


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## Xaltotun

I am rather fanatical about a lot of films and directors, and have written long essays about them. I could wax lyrical about Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Ford, Hawks, Welles, Renoir, Rossellini, Visconti, Bresson, Dreyer, Murnau, Lang, Tarkovsky. Also love Walsh, Huston, Bunuel, Borzage, Sirk, Cukor, Manckiewicz, Capra, von Sternberg, von Stroheim, Keaton, Wilder, Tourneur, Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Sjöström, Bergman, some Hitchcock, some Godard, some Pasolini etc. etc. Miyazaki's animated films, too.

Some films that belong to my holy of holies are

Eisenstein: Battleship Potemkin, Ivan the Terrible
Ford: The Searchers, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
Hawks: Red River, Bringing up Baby, The Big Sleep, Only Angels Have Wings
Renoir: La Grande Illusion
Bresson: Diary of a Country Priest, A Man Escaped, Pickpocket, The Trial of Jeanne D'Arc
Dreyer: The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc, Vampyr, Day of Wrath, Ordet
Godard: Le Mepris
Tarkovsky: The Mirror, Andrei Rublev
Welles: Citizen Kane
Visconti: La Terra Trema, Il Gattopardo
Murnau: Sunrise
Jarmusch: Dead Man
Borzage: Seventh Heaven

Also, I once stumbled upon the Vatican's recommended films list - there is one, really! I noticed that it's basically all my greatest favourites listed up. I don't know what that tells about me.


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## EdwardBast

I've pored over posts and analyses of movies I'm not even sure I like a whole lot. Not sure if passion has anything to do with it in my case. After watching the film several times, I spent a couple of hours reading a twenty-page plot analysis of Shane Carruth's _Primer_ in the hopes of understanding what had happened. I got it, but would not be able to explain it now.


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## Blancrocher

Morimur said:


> Sátántangó (Director: Béla Tarr)


I'll be watching that one soon, having just seen and loved The Werckmeister Harmonies. Out of curiosity, have you read any László Krasznahorkai? His fiction seems to have inspired almost all of Béla Tarr's work. I absolutely loved The Melancholy of Resistance (a section of which is the basis for Werckmeister)--Satantango is probably worth reading as well.


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## Dr Johnson

Xaltotun said:


> I am rather fanatical about a lot of films and directors, and have written long essays about them. I could wax lyrical about Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Ford, Hawks, Welles, Renoir, Rossellini, Visconti, Bresson, Dreyer, Murnau, Lang, Tarkovsky. Also love Walsh, Huston, Bunuel, Borzage, Sirk, Cukor, Manckiewicz, Capra, von Sternberg, von Stroheim, Keaton, Wilder, Tourneur, Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Sjöström, Bergman, some Hitchcock, some Godard, some Pasolini etc. etc. Miyazaki's animated films, too.
> 
> Some films that belong to my holy of holies are
> 
> Eisenstein: Battleship Potemkin, Ivan the Terrible
> Ford: The Searchers, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
> Hawks: Red River, Bringing up Baby, The Big Sleep, Only Angels Have Wings
> Renoir: La Grande Illusion
> Bresson: Diary of a Country Priest, A Man Escaped, Pickpocket, The Trial of Jeanne D'Arc
> Dreyer: The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc, Vampyr, Day of Wrath, Ordet
> Godard: Le Mepris
> Tarkovsky: The Mirror, Andrei Rublev
> Welles: Citizen Kane
> Visconti: La Terra Trema, Il Gattopardo
> Murnau: Sunrise
> Jarmusch: Dead Man
> Borzage: Seventh Heaven
> 
> *Also, I once stumbled upon the Vatican's recommended films list - there is one, really! I noticed that it's basically all my greatest favourites listed up. I don't know what that tells about me.*


If you subscribe to the idea of Pascal's Wager then you are in on the ground floor with "the management".

I see you have _Citizen Kane_ there. Have you ever seen Welles' version of _Macbeth_?


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## Morimur

Blancrocher said:


> I'll be watching that one soon, having just seen and loved The Werckmeister Harmonies. Out of curiosity, have you read any László Krasznahorkai? His fiction seems to have inspired almost all of Béla Tarr's work. I absolutely loved The Melancholy of Resistance (a section of which is the basis for Werckmeister)--Satantango is probably worth reading as well.


I haven't read any László Krasznahorkai and was not even aware of his existence-thanks for the introduction!


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## polyesterkatz

Midnight Cowboy, Sling Blade, Dog Day Afternoon
Love 'em, but they don't touch me the way music does.


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## znapschatz

I love so many films that I couldn't really choose among them for favorites without leaving out equal favorites, but my touchstone is "Rashomon," Kurosawa's masterpiece. For me, it sums up the nature of reality like no other. I saw it once in the 1960s when it overwhelmed me, and often since has come to mind when triggered by something. About 20 years later, a new print was being shown by our local art house, so I went, partly expecting that time and age might have elevated the memory. Instead, even remembering every scene, it did me again. Amazing. Black and white, 8 characters, 5 sets, mostly outdoors, spare musical score, and it rocked my world twice.


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## Vaneyes

I like a wide range. Depends on what I (and wife) feel like watchin' when the viewing urge strikes. It's striking more often than it has in years, since we acquired a 65" UHD TV.

Continuing Cheyenne's thought, recently purchased Blu-rays of *Gunfight at the OK Corral*, and *Once Upon a Time* *in the West*, and DVD of *The Searchers*.


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## Pugg

Albert7 said:


> Here's another movie I would rattle on aeons about in terms of beauty and philosophy etc. etc.


It's disgusting


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## SimonNZ

EdwardBast said:


> I've pored over posts and analyses of movies I'm not even sure I like a whole lot. Not sure if passion has anything to do with it in my case. After watching the film several times, I spent a couple of hours reading a twenty-page plot analysis of Shane Carruth's _Primer_ in the hopes of understanding what had happened. I got it, but would not be able to explain it now.


If you felt that way about Primer it'll be interesting to hear what you make of director Shane Carruth's later and more ambitious Upstream Color.


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## Strange Magic

I'll start out with some standard classics: Godfather, Zhivago, Casablanca, Star Wars, Citizen Kane. Then a few others: Planet of the Apes, An Outcast of the Islands, Alien, The Conversation, A Man for All Seasons.


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## znapschatz

Pugg said:


> It's disgusting


Got to agree. Also bad film making, astonishing from a film director of this caliber. What got into him?


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## Pugg

znapschatz said:


> Got to agree. Also bad film making, astonishing from a film director of this caliber. What got into him?


His own ego I presume


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## Belowpar

I've watched many of the films listed above, some several times. But rather than pick what I might consider the best/greatest/most profound I'll list the ones I've turned to again and again. These are my most watched films and it's because my greatest ENJOYMENT comes when I uncritically forget I'm watching a film and feel like I'm in some kind of parallel universe that makes perfect sense for a couple of diversionary hours. 
Another thing: I doubt I could accurately describe these plots to you, they just seem fresh every time I watch them.

(There's a few more but this is a start. Safe to say 99% of films fail to take me anywhere near there, but I remain hopeful every time one starts.)

5 Manhattan
4 The Conversation
3 Brazil
2 The Third Man

and the one I turn to everytime life seems a little ordinary.


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## Wood

Pugg said:


> It's disgusting


It is on my rental list. I generally find Pasolini's works to be tastefully innocent or detached and stylised.

What do you find disgusting about it Pugg?


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## Pat Fairlea

Powell & Pressburger: A Matter of Life and Death. Simply the best.


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## Xaltotun

Dr Johnson said:


> If you subscribe to the idea of Pascal's Wager then you are in on the ground floor with "the management".
> 
> I see you have _Citizen Kane_ there. Have you ever seen Welles' version of _Macbeth_?


No, I haven't seen his _Macbeth._ I should become a better Wellesian, in any case! I really love _Citizen Kane_ and _The Magnificent Ambersons,_ while not being too crazy about _The Lady From Shanghai_ or the _Touch of Evil_ (although they are certainly good films). I'd really like to see some of the others, though!

I really like Pascal, too, although I think that his Wager is a bit tongue in cheek, or rather, a witty simplification of a thing that is not so simple. But there definitely is something in the Vatican that always seems to speak to me, and it's not just idle fascination.


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## Guest

Dr Johnson said:


> Practically every line is worth quoting.


In Bruges is that for me, it's probably the only film I could recount from start to finish (if I could stop laughing). Sad and touching too. A real fave of mine.

I should perhaps point out that virtually every sentence uttered contains at least one of the following: ****, *******, *****, ****, ****, *******, ******* and ****-******. Frequently more than one.


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## znapschatz

Xaltotun said:


> No, I haven't seen his _Macbeth._ I should become a better Wellesian, in any case! I really love _Citizen Kane_ and _The Magnificent Ambersons,_ while not being too crazy about _The Lady From Shanghai_ or the _Touch of Evil_ (although they are certainly good films). I'd really like to see some of the others, though!
> 
> I really like Pascal, too, although I think that his Wager is a bit tongue in cheek, or rather, a witty simplification of a thing that is not so simple. But there definitely is something in the Vatican that always seems to speak to me, and it's not just idle fascination.


Please keep an open mind about _The Lady From Shanghai_ and _Touch of Evil_. Both were heavily re-edited from Welles' original concepts, as indeed was _The Magnificent Ambersons_, all of which seriously diluted the director's intent. There had been released several years ago a re-re-edited _ToE_ restoring both the cuts and the sound track as originally intended. I saw that version and it made quite a difference. Apart from the bare bones Shakespeare movies, his own productions, the only films Welles ever made that were not butchered by the studios were his masterpiece, _Citizen Kane_, and his last (I think), _The Immortal Story_.


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## Figleaf

I don't really have the attention span for full length films, unless it's either stunning eye candy (such as Top Hat posted by Belowpar above) or laugh out loud comedy such as Withnail And I (thanks to Dr Johnson and Balthazar for reminding me of that one). In fact, such is my reverence for Withnail that I re-enact the washing up scene on a regular basis. 

The last film that I really loved and re-watched compulsively was Coco Avant Chanel. Yes, it's a cheesy hagiography, but the cinematography and of course the costumes are gorgeous, and Benoit Poelvoorde is divine. If I were Audrey Tautou I wouldn't leave him, even for the beautiful Alessandro Nivola. Normally I don't watch French films because they talk too darn fast for me to keep up, but this one is so beautiful I don't care.


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## Pugg

Wood said:


> It is on my rental list. I generally find Pasolini's works to be tastefully innocent or detached and stylised.
> 
> What do you find disgusting about it Pugg?


Sorry for the somewhat late reaction 

It's to explicit to even talk about it, lets say: child abuse,...................... lots of it


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## Wood

Pugg said:


> Sorry for the somewhat late reaction
> 
> It's to explicit to even talk about it, lets say: child abuse,...................... lots of it


No worries Pugg!

Oh, I see. One to avoid then.


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## Pugg

Wood said:


> No worries Pugg!
> 
> Oh, I see. One to avoid then.


Who an I to judge on things , however do not watch with children who can't understand that's it's just a film


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## Belowpar

znapschatz said:


> Please keep an open mind about _The Lady From Shanghai_ and _Touch of Evil_. Both were heavily re-edited from Welles' original concepts, as indeed was _The Magnificent Ambersons_, all of which seriously diluted the director's intent. There had been released several years ago a re-re-edited _ToE_ restoring both the cuts and the sound track as originally intended. I saw that version and it made quite a difference. Apart from the bare bones Shakespeare movies, his own productions, the only films Welles ever made that were not butchered by the studios were his masterpiece, _Citizen Kane_, and his last (I think), _The Immortal Story_.


F for Fake is not butchered and I love it for its mix of documentary and well, entertainment. I think if you are at all interested in Welles it's a must see.


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## Belowpar

dogen said:


> In Bruges is that for me, it's probably the only film I could recount from start to finish (if I could stop laughing). Sad and touching too. A real fave of mine.
> 
> I should perhaps point out that virtually every sentence uttered contains at least one of the following: ****, *******, *****, ****, ****, *******, ******* and ****-******. Frequently more than one.


Yes Farrell is excellent, Fiennes is unrecognisable and magnificent, but Gleeson is just acting at it's finest.

Another favourite of mine is The Guard, written and Directed by the brother of the Director of In Bruges and also starring Gleeson. Who is also 'tremjous' in The General. Ok I'll stop now.


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## znapschatz

Pugg said:


> Who an I to judge on things , however do not watch with children who can't understand that's it's just a film


It's okay to judge on some things. One of my friends used to wear a tee shirt with the slogan on it:"Art can't hurt you," but my take is that if art can't hurt, neither can it help. In actuality, it can do both. Art deals in ideas, philosophies and suchlike, not all of which are helpful. Take, for example, "Triumph of the Will," Leni Riefenstahl's paean to the Nazi party, and "Olympia," her doc on the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The former paints lipstick on the Nazi face, while the latter purports that Germany under Nazi rule was like any other in the family of nations. Both of these films have been acclaimed for their artistry with only cursory regard for their toxic messages. Meanwhile, in their time these films helped sanitize the fascist realities to millions of people worldwide, no doubt swaying the attitudes of many. They still do, sad to say. On a personal level, art can reenforce unwholesome attitudes bedeviling society, such as the objectivization of women, a common theme in much art considered to be masterworks.

In re "Salo," a filmed version of "120 Days of Sodom," by the Marquis de Sade. The problem was in the source material. While the author can himself be regarded an interesting historical figure, his entire body of work is nothing more than the sadistic fantasies (Sacher-Masoch not yet on the scene) of a very neurotic individual. The film consists of scenes depicting sick, sexual violence interspersed with interminable justifications clad in philosophical bull---t. The actors in these scenes look embarrassed, and no wonder. The resulting film, in my opinion, is worthless except as an example of what happens when talent meets misperception, and further, not always recognized by an audience as such (well, hell, it's Pasolini, so it must be worth looking at, right?)

There is a more recent version of this film niche in "Eyes Wide Shut," Stanley Kubrick's venture into pornography, and yes, he admitted in an interview that was his intent. His aim was to direct something in all film genres, including the "erotic." Maybe that was true of Pasolini as well. Too bad both these guys had such a blind spot.


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## Pat Fairlea

Belowpar said:


> Yes Farrell is excellent, Fiennes is unrecognisable and magnificent, but Gleeson is just acting at it's finest.
> 
> Another favourite of mine is The Guard, written and Directed by the brother of the Director of In Bruges and also starring Gleeson. Who is also 'tremjous' in The General. Ok I'll stop now.


Oh The Guard! Yes, not my all-time favourite (A Matter of Life and Death, obviously), but a brilliant fillum none de less.


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## Guest

Belowpar said:


> Yes Farrell is excellent, Fiennes is unrecognisable and magnificent, but Gleeson is just acting at it's finest.
> 
> Another favourite of mine is The Guard, written and Directed by the brother of the Director of In Bruges and also starring Gleeson. Who is also 'tremjous' in The General. Ok I'll stop now.


Not heard of The Guard so will look out for it. 
The Fiennes character is rather an odd distraction for me, the film's joy is all in the Gleeson/Farrell dialogue.


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## znapschatz

Lately I have been agonizing over what must now be regarded as a lost classic, "The Lovers of Teruel," a French film from the early 1960s. Years ago in Los Angeles, I had the great good luck of having seen this film in its first showing at the Little Art Theater on Sunset Bvd., which meant I could also see each following show during the course of its run. It is, in my estimation, the best film with a dance theme I have ever seen, topping another of my favorites, "The Red Shoes," which I still enjoy. It didn't get much distribution in the US, only showing bi-coastal in NY and LA, I believe. I was both astonished and dismayed when learning that during the 1980s, absolutely no efforts had been made to archive or even preserve this masterpiece, despite the desperate appeals of its producer and principal dancer, Ludmilla Tcherina. It now exists only as a crummy VCR that squeezed the wide screen format into the TV format that cuts off 1/3 of each scene. In some sequences, the truncated scenes don't even make sense. Of the sound, color quality and sharpness, the less said the better. I have one of these because there are no other versions extant, but it's a frustrating watch, compounded by my sadness that it had come to this. It's like looking at faded snapshots of someone you love. Suppose 1/3 of "Romeo and Juliet" had been lost during Shakespeare's time due to negligence. Damn. 

Sorry for the downer. These thoughts come up unbidden.


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## Vaneyes

znapschatz said:


> *It's okay to judge on some things.* One of my friends used to wear a tee shirt with the slogan on it:"Art can't hurt you," but my take is that if art can't hurt, neither can it help. In actuality, it can do both. Art deals in ideas, philosophies and suchlike, not all of which are helpful. Take, for example, "Triumph of the Will," Leni Riefenstahl's paean to the Nazi party, and "Olympia," her doc on the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The former paints lipstick on the Nazi face, while the latter purports that Germany under Nazi rule was like any other in the family of nations. Both of these films have been acclaimed for their artistry with only cursory regard for their toxic messages. Meanwhile, in their time these films helped sanitize the fascist realities to millions of people worldwide, no doubt swaying the attitudes of many. They still do, sad to say. On a personal level, art can reenforce unwholesome attitudes bedeviling society, such as the objectivization of women, a common theme in much art considered to be masterworks.
> 
> In re "Salo," a filmed version of "120 Days of Sodom," by the Marquis de Sade. *The problem was in the source material. * While the author can himself be regarded an interesting historical figure, his entire body of work is nothing more than the sadistic fantasies (Sacher-Masoch not yet on the scene) of a very neurotic individual. The film consists of scenes depicting sick, sexual violence interspersed with interminable justifications clad in philosophical bull---t. The actors in these scenes look embarrassed, and no wonder. The resulting film, in my opinion, is worthless except as an example of what happens when talent meets misperception, and further, not always recognized by an audience as such (well, hell, it's Pasolini, so it must be worth looking at, right?)
> 
> There is a more recent version of this film niche in "Eyes Wide Shut," *Stanley Kubrick's venture into pornography,* and yes, he admitted in an interview that was his intent. His aim was to direct something in all film genres, including the "erotic." Maybe that was true of Pasolini as well. Too bad both these guys had such a blind spot.


In press conference, 2016 Cannes jurists were asked about how they felt being judges of films. All of them found ways to skirt/soften. Such as divorcing themselves from being industry insider to simple viewer/appreciator of film.

Re Marquis de Sade, there are many more sources for Salo's creation. Referencing...

http://jclarkmedia.com/pasolini/pasolini25.html

EWS has gained popularity since it's release. Maybe its soft porn content has become more palatable. Maybe the casting of Cruise & Kidman has more train wreck fascination. I wouldn't call it a great film, but it does have atmosphere and unpredictability, even after several watchings.


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## znapschatz

Vaneyes said:


> In press conference, 2016 Cannes jurists were asked about how they felt being judges of films. All of them found ways to skirt/soften. Such as divorcing themselves from being industry insider to simple viewer/appreciator of film.
> 
> Re Marquis de Sade, there are many more sources for Salo's creation. Referencing...
> 
> http://jclarkmedia.com/pasolini/pasolini25.html
> 
> EWS has gained popularity since it's release. Maybe its soft porn content has become more palatable. Maybe the casting of Cruise & Kidman has more train wreck fascination. I wouldn't call it a great film, but it does have atmosphere and unpredictability, even after several watchings.


Thanks for the link. Jim Clark is certainly thorough. I read some of it, but there is a lot more to deal with. I will respond after finishing the article.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

While Amadeus will always be my favorite film of all time, I find that I can't stop thinking about Eyes Wide Shut. It's not even my favorite Kubrick film, that honor going to Barry Lyndon, but it is the one that has stuck with me the longest.


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## znapschatz

Vaneyes said:


> In press conference, 2016 Cannes jurists were asked about how they felt being judges of films. All of them found ways to skirt/soften. Such as divorcing themselves from being industry insider to simple viewer/appreciator of film.
> 
> Re Marquis de Sade, there are many more sources for Salo's creation. Referencing...
> 
> http://jclarkmedia.com/pasolini/pasolini25.html
> 
> EWS has gained popularity since it's release. Maybe its soft porn content has become more palatable. Maybe the casting of Cruise & Kidman has more train wreck fascination. I wouldn't call it a great film, but it does have atmosphere and unpredictability, even after several watchings.


After finishing the Jim Clark essay, I must say it is a well written, thorough review of Salo, but it reminds me of a similar explication of "2001: A Space Odyssey," by the reviewer of a weekly newspaper I worked for in the 1970s. He had been thrilled by the film, and wrote a strong article dissecting its thematic material for the publication, sending a copy to Arthur C. Clark, the principle author of the source material, for his consideration. He received in replay a long letter from Clark, thanking him for his enthusiastic praise for the film, acknowledging his erudite and well structured reasoning, and informing him he got it completely wrong (I don't mention the reviewer by name because he later became a well known cultural commentator and I don't want to embarrass him.) I will say he took A. C. Clark's response well and wrote a second review incorporating Clark's revisions. At the same time, I learned about the pitfalls of plunging deeply into a work that in the end was going for something else.

First, the resetting of "120 Days of Sodom" to 20th century Salo could have had dramatic or philosophical purposes, well examined by J. Clark, or it could have been simply cost cutting on costumes and sets by using contemporary clothes and existing locations. The production itself shows many signs of austerity, typical of films outside the mainstream of the European movie industry. I would expect the director to obfuscate these aspects to reviewers and academics, and there is nothing wrong with that. The man had a movie that needed to be considered artistically worthwhile in order to be shown, and that's the business part of the arts. But there is also the matter of gratuitous nudity. Displaying young, good-looking boys and girls in their bare nakeds, but not the elderly libertines who, according to the source material, disported themselves thus from time to time, is a marker of the film's duplicity ( BTW, the same seems to have been true of EWS; lots of naked young ladies, no other age or gender so displayed.) That's a good indicator of whether we are looking at artistic honesty or prurient intent.

Last, Jim Clark presented what I would consider a muddled analysis of the structure and function of fascism. That is something I would not have expected from Pasolini, who was, after all, a Communist intellectual who would likely never be muzzy about something like that.

Nah. Salo remains, in my estimation, pretentious porn, and likewise EWS, which I couldn't get through with even one viewing. The best part of that movie is its initials.

I'm thinking that if you wish to discuss this further, we take it up in a private communication instead of on this site. Thanks for the essay, though. It was at least well done and thought provoking.


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## georgedelorean

My fave movies when I was growing up are: 

The Empire Strikes Back, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Karate Kid, Back to the Future, Beverly Hills Cop, Gremlins, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Shogun, Ghostbusters, Stand By Me, Top Gun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Risky Business, Beetlejuice, The Neverending Story, Flight of the Navigator, Coming to America, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, Big, Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Krull, The Last Starfighter, License to Drive, Little Shop of Horrors, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Lucas, Return to Oz, Overboard, Police Academy, Revenge of the Nerds, Rocky III, Short Circuit, Space Camp, Stand and Deliver, Three Amigos, Willow, Platoon, The Lost Boys, Labyrinth, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, Lethal Weapon 2, The Princess Bride, E.T., Rainman, Spaceballs, Innerspace, Annie, Romancing the Stone, Tootsie, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Wall Street, Crocodile Dundee, Splash, A Fish Called Wanda, Raising Arizona, Real Genius, Cocoon, Young Guns, La Bamba, Driving Miss Daisy, Harry and the Hendersons, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Chariots of Fire, Dragnet, The Last Emperor, The Great Outdoors, Roxanne, Batteries Not Included, Mr. Mom, Starman, Spies Like Us, Gung Ho, Ruthless People, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Gorillas in the Mist, Armed and Dangerous, Moscow on the Hudson, Tough Guys, Caddyshack, Project X, The Witness, Like Father Like Son, and many more. I think that's where I get my passion for film.


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## Taplow

if....









Lindsay Anderson, 1968


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## eljr

brotagonist said:


> Movies take up too much of my precious literature and classical music time.


Pretty much the way I feel.

I will say, a few movies have "blown me away" over the years.

The list is short but these movies are stellar:

A Clockwork Orange
Blue Velvet
Apocalypse Now
Jacob's Ladder
Sucker Punch
Koyaanisqatsi
Harvey
2001: A Space Odyssey


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

I replied to this thread two years ago, but mine is Seven Samurai.


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## znapschatz

Taplow said:


> if....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lindsay Anderson, 1968


Very much a reworking of "Zero for Conduct," the Jean Vigot short film from 1933, which had been banned in France until 1946. I can't imagine why, unless they were afraid it might inspire rebellious behavior among schoolboys. "If" featured the first screen performance on Malcom McDowell.


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## hpowders

My favorite films are Field of Dreams, Psycho, The Birds, ET, Godfather One, Godfather Two, The Odd Couple and The Producers.


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## Tallisman

I think the greatest film of the 21st century is 'Hidden' (Caché) by Michael Haneke. Old favourites include the Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Five Easy Pieces, 2001


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## Templeton

Probably Fritz Lang's 'M' overall; Peter Lorre's performance is one of the greatest cinematic performances ever, in my opinion.

However, I also love Truffaut's 'Les 400 Coups', Schlesinger's 'Midnight Cowboy', Lee's 'Do The Right Thing', Linklater's 'Before Sunrise' and Kar Wai's 'In the Mood for Love'.

I would be happy with all of the above, if stranded on a desert island.


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