For some reason, I'm occasionally asked what my favorite movies are (luckily, for the most part without any stipulations as to what films are to be excluded) and I usually get semi-paralyzed by my apprehension about betraying shallow tastes, lack of historical breadth, limited Eurocentric scope, or my astonishingly vanilla-middlebrow sentiments.
I might briefly consider an inside-autistic joke: name only movies with exclamation points in their title (Airplane! Zucker Brothers, USA 1980) or name named, uh, eponymous, movies (Stella Dallas, King Vidor, USA 1937; Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy, USA 2007). I usually end up with Alien (Ridley Scott, GB 1979) at regular gatherings, or with my default alphabetical range in "glorious black-and-white" (Alphaville, M, Zentropa) for the more academic receptions.
But there are times when it's not just about de gustibus. If you really want to rely on my judgment, it turns out I tend to favor movies made in 1997 or in 2006. Coincidence or neurotic pattern? And what do you recommend when the standard is that movies should be passionate and engaging, not just cerebral or formalist?
Most of the following may just reveal my own obsessions, but these ones could be suitable for discerning, smart, and enlightened viewers willing to give the medium another chance:
Two documentaries that made me revel in the creativity and complexity of the human spirit are Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (Errol Morris, USA 1997) and Deep Water (Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell, UK 2006).
Two German masterpieces reflecting about how individual lives are caught up in historical circumstances are the hard-to-find Das Leben ist eine Baustelle (Wolfgang Becker, D 1997) and the far-too-easy-to-find Das Leben der Anderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, D 2006).
Two male melodramas that show the intensity of survival through adverse conditions are Brother (Aleksei Balabanov, Russia 1997) and Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog, USA 2006).
And The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, USA 1997) comes close to a perfect movie, while the overlooked Stranger than Fiction (Marc Forster, USA 2006) might actually manage that rare achievement to be both meta and passionate at the same time (also, it was filmed in Chicago).
2010-08-22
a few more optics of adjacency.
at 17:54
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2 comments:
It is good to see that cryptoman has not abandoned his post. "The cryptoman abides."
The "fave film" question is a stumper for me as well. I freeze up when asked that question. my mind goes blank and my eyes get glassy. "Dude, Aliens was way better!"
In these A.D.D. days of mine, I can only speak of what I've just seen. So I like the way Machete takes a machete to immigration politics in America. If you like New Grindhouse Chic, "She" is long overdue as an heir to Che. Who would have imagined Danny Trejo's scarred Mexican mug competing with Clooney's handsome all-The American for top box office in these "papers please" days? Please recalibrate those optics of adjacency.
At the other end of the optical spectrum (not adjacent) for recent viewings, I go from lowbrow Mexican machismo to middlebrow male melodrama. Tenure (Mike Million) is good pic for academic politics and how it sometimes goes Sideways. Time to lower your expectations, boys. I know I did.
Well, victwenty, sounds like to me you nailed cryptoman's ass again (and his mode of reflection to boot). Who has time to watch movies these days?
Machete all the way, I say! Saw the "Catfish" movie, though, which was a huge let-down, if only for the fact that it forced me to agree with A.O. "New York Times chief film critic" Scott.
"Tenure," huh? That should be in all of our priority netflix queues! [if only I had an account; also apropos -- for guilty pleasures of male melodrama, I confess to enjoying "G.I. Jane" and "Spy Game" far more than I should, given my cultural conditioning.]
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