Recommend a movie

10 posts

Niccolo and Donkey
Drieu

Some favorites by directors I haven't seen mentioned yet...

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/30tXnk8Mfn4


The Great Silence (Sergio Carbucci)
A few years ago, they used to air this all the time on IFC. The ending has made this infamous among spaghetti westerns, and if you don't know why, I'd recommend avoiding spoilers if possible. It features the inimitable Klaus Kinski as the villain, whose screen presence unfortunately renders him more compelling than the putative hero, and this is a film where that's probably not intended. It drags a bit when he's not onscreen, but the atmosphere (snow-covered mountains, gorgeous Morricone soundtrack) and the ending more than make up for any flaws.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes)
I just discovered that Ben Gazzara passed away earlier this year, and with Peter Falk also recently departed, I guess that leaves Gena Rowlands as the only surviving member of the John Cassavetes entourage. I think this is Gazzara's best role, and one of Cassavetes's best films along with A Woman Under the Influence and Love Streams , though all of his films are at least good with the exception of the one starring Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland, which I haven't seen but everyone involved apparently hated. Those not accustomed to dialogue-heavy films might have trouble getting on his wavelength, but he's worth the effort. Think Eric Rohmer without the Catholicism but with slightly more action, violence, hard-boiled characters and a similarly profound understanding of human relationships. I've only watched the uncut, longer version of Bookie , and there was very little that I'd remove, so don't bother with the truncated version.

Mikey and Nicky (Elaine May)
This is pretty much a John Cassavetes film not directed by Cassavetes, though he stars in it along with Peter Falk. They have great chemistry, unsurprisingly. If you haven't seen any Cassavetes films yet, I think this might actually be the ideal introduction simply because it covers lots of the same territory but at a quicker pace.

Black Cat White Cat (Emir Kusturica)
I could have just as easily mentioned Kusturica's classic Underground , and while that is probably the better overall film, I think this one is more purely entertaining. Kusturica has a unique sense of humor and imagination -- Fellini is the closest parallel but I don't think that comparison entirely fits. Artsy without taking itself too seriously. Still not released on Region 1 DVD, for some reason.

Red Angel (Yasuzo Masumura)
Masumura doesn't get as much press in America as some of his contemporaries such as Shohei Imamura and Nagisa Oshima, perhaps because none of his films have been released in the Criterion Collection, but his work is frequently on their level and he merits the same attention. Fun fact: Yukio Mishima starred in Masumura's Afraid to Die , though I have not seen that one.

Point Blank (John Boorman)
John Boorman is better known as the director of Deliverance and Zardoz , but I think this is his best. This was made in 1967 when American directors were first starting to incorporate French New Wave techniques into their films, so what might have been a standard thriller in a less talented director's hands becomes much more through elliptical jump cuts, flashbacks, and brooding existentialism. Great performance from Lee Marvin and even a brief but amusing appearance by Carroll O'Connor (Archie Bunker).

The Trial (Orson Welles)
The best way to adapt a classic novel to the screen is often to not even attempt complete faithfulness to the plot, but instead capture its feel, and that's what Welles does here. There's a creepy shot towards the end with kids peeking through cracked shutters that I love. You'll know it when you see it. Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) is cast as Josef K. I was disappointed that Jeanne Moreau didn't have a more substantial role, but along with The Lady from Shanghai and Chimes at Midnight , this is my favorite Welles.

Niccolo and Donkey
I'm glad that you chose this one from Kusturica. It's certainly not his most heralded pic but it's his most pure comedy. I'm certain that he chose this after having the weight of expectations lifted off of his shoulders after Underground which was a great success. In Black Cat, White Cat we see Kusturica's anarchy unleashed without being burdened by the politics of the ex-YU, still unravelling at this point.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/mULp1DrXgIQ
Cornelio
Drieu
Burst City by Sogo Ishii
I think I previously mentioned this in the ShoutBox, but I'll repost it here for posterity. Recommended if you like post-punk music and funny looking Japanese people in biker gear. It's not profound, but it's good wholesome fun for the entire family.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWUD_NWcaNM
Bob Dylan Roof

I don't know if this was mentioned already, but Vengeance is Mine is excellent.

Starring Ken Ogata (who portrayed Mishima in Schrader's eponymous film), Vengeance is Mine depicts the life of a serial killer modeled after the Japanese serial killer Akira Nishiguchi. The film has some sensationalized fluff, but the majority of it is very good. The characters are complex and fascinating and the non-linear plot, skipping between seminal events in the killer's youth and his crimes, does an excellent job of showing the evolution of a killer's mind.

Trajan
The Return, Andrey Zvyagintsev

After 12 years, an absent father returns from a mysterious exile and uncomfortably interposes himself into the lives of his two young sons, taking them on a confusing and ultimately tragic fishing trip. There is much doubt and confusion over the father's true identity, whom the brothers only know through a single photograph -- found opposite an illustration of the binding of Isaac, and indeed the father acts towards his sons as if steeling himself for some horrible act of propitiation, speaking to them almost solely in a cold dialect of commands and admonishments. For their part, the brothers are divided by their father's return, with the older brother eager for acceptance and the younger alternately resentful and suspicious. Excellent performances. Shades of Mirror-era Tarkovsky, with 'transcendental' composition, understated dialogue and lengthy, evocative shots of the Russian wilderness. An 'independent' film, but with characteristic Russian earnestness that separates it from American 'indie' films too callow to attempt anything higher than hipster quirk.

The Red and the White, Miklós Jancsó

The only truly anti-war film ever made. Unlike other films in the genre, which often retain heroic elements, Jancso communicates the utter nihilism of 20th c. warfare through dehumanizing long lens compositions (sometimes making it difficult to tell who is even being shot at), a lack of any unifying narrative, and a refusal to give names or identities to any of the participants. A commander executes prisoners, the commander is executed for ordering the rape of a milkmaid, prisoners escape and murder or are murdered in their turn; every time one is tempted to sympathize with the human beings onscreen, they are either unceremoniously killed or rendered otherwise unsympathetic, as with a nurse who eventually (though perhaps unwillingly) betrays the identities of escaped Red prisoners under her care. The result is at once moving and disturbing. On a strictly aesthetic level, I was fascinated by the Hungarian landscape with its infinite rolling plains and wooden wells, and many of the shots are framed in a classical, almost painterly fashion. Highly recommended.

The Hour of the Wolf, Ingmar Bergman

Bergman's only horror film, about a Lovecraftian genius-psychotic (the great Max von Sydow) who receives inspiration from demons which regularly visit him, especially during the titular 'hour of the wolf', the still interval between night's end and day's beginning. It is left ambiguous whether these demons actually exist, or whether they are shared hallucinations between him and his wife (Liv Ullmann), who at one point ponders whether married couples come to not only resemble each other physically, but also psychologically. The highlight of the film is a sequence filmed in almost disorienting contrast (ala 1990's Begotten ), involving von Sydow's inexplicable stoning of a bathing child. Not recommended for anyone who is unfamiliar with Bergman, but I highly enjoyed it.

On the basis of Thomas777's recommendation, I also viewed Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue , which was a psychological study disguised as violent slasher fare. Very good. I also watched Mouchette again, though I don't think any of us need a review, since I'm sure you have all seen it...if not, it's perhaps the finest movie ever made, and you need to see it as soon as possible.
Trajan

Here's my Netflix queue, btw. Has anyone seen these? I need to know which of these are worth watching.

Hunger
The Sword of Doom
The Belly of an Architect
Children of Paradise
Lunacy
The Turin Horse
Kaos
You, the Living
Careful
The Films of Kenneth Anger
Kiss Me Deadly
Koyaanisqatsi
Days of Heaven
Wild Strawberries
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Woman in the Dunes
Red Desert
Deep Red
M
The Wild Bunch
Ivan's Childhood
Simon of the Desert
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Chinatown
Hausu
The Color of Pomegranates
Inland Empire
Love Is Colder than Death
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
Blood Tea & Red String
The Wages of Fear
The White Ribbon
A Snake of June
Vampyr
Eyes Without a Face
Ikiru
Come and See
Eyes Wide Shut
The Double Life of Veronique
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Cornelio
You will meet a tall dark stranger
Woody Allen, 2010

This is the same stupid, lackluster movie Allen has been doing for the last 30 years. It has been panned by the critics, despite being superior to the utterly ridiculous "Midnight in Paris" (2011). Avoid.

Pá Negre (Black Bread)
Agustí Villaronga, 2010

Well crafted film about the post-war times in rural catalonia. When you are bracing yourself for another dull story about the fascist oppression, the movie takes an unexpected turn and becomes a nonpartisan exploration of evil. Recommended.
Drieu

Chris Marker died today. :( He had just turned 91.

I'm sure some people here have at least heard of him, but nevertheless I'll take the opportunity to recommend the Criterion DVD which packages Sans Soleil and La jetée together. They are very different films, but both are life-changing masterpieces in their own way. I often hear that La jetée inspired Terry Gilliam to make 12 Monkeys , but the similarities between the two films are very superficial. La jetée is only about 30 mins and uses nothing but still images with one exception, and there is no Brad Pitt to stink up the screen. Sans Soleil is more difficult to describe, and my favorite of the two. It's like a free-floating documentary on the nature of memory told through meditations on seemingly random footage with no apparent connection beyond what the narrator describes. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: easily, and worth a blind buy.

MLad, here are tentative ratings for the films on that list I've seen. I'll comment when I have more time.