I'VE REACHED 100 POSTS PEOPLE! This is clearly the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life! I just want to thank my followers, the people who have liked my blog on Facebook. In the past few months, I've tried to up my game on here and having your support means everything. So merci beaucoup as they say in places where French is spoken.
So for this special occasion, I've decided to compose my top 10 films of all time. I've asked my good friend and fellow film enthusiast Zade Constantine to contribute as well because he is awesome and has an exceptional taste in films.
ZADE:
Elia Kazan directed several films often cited as some of the greatest works of all time. Films such as On the Waterfront and East of Eden are part of his remarkable body of work and controversial legacy. A Face in the Crowd, however, remains my favorite film by Kazan. Lead by a maniacal performance from Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd foreshadowed the frightening state of our current media institutions and figures.
9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - John
Ford
John Ford takes his favorite themes and iconography and distills
them here. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance pins John Wayne and Jimmy
Stewart against one another and plays with our perceptions of these two stars.
There are many films that alter the confines of their respective genres, but The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance stands as the greatest “revisionist” achievement.
8. The Wages of Fear (1953) - Henri-Georges Clouzot
The setup for this one is simple: destitute workers looking to
escape a hellish South American town agree to drive nitroglycerine across
perilous terrain. Every bump in the road has the potential to set off the nitro
and blow them all up. The Wages of Fear, after repeated views, remains an
unbearably suspenseful and stressful viewing experience.
MANISH:
Ang Lee has become one of my favorite filmmakers. His direction is fluid, with wide natural vistas and expressive indoor sets. But it's Ang Lee's keen observation of male-female interactions, and the relationships women have with each other that really strike me. Both Lee and Oscar winning screenwriter Emma Thompson bring Jane Austen's material to contemporary life. This story feels real and immediate, even if some of the gender politics are archaic. But are they? Ang Lee's direction puts this film in the real world; it's the kind of prestige costume drama that transcends its time period.
Douglas Sirk became famous in the 1950s for making a series of successful melodramas. This film tells a pretty standard story of a widow (Jane Wyman) who begins a relationship with a young tree farmer (Rock Hudson), leading to scandal with her society friends. This film is a true melodrama, one that uses color, lighting and framing to reflect a heightened state of emotion. That is the one thing missing from romance films these days. It's not just the dramatic dialogue or the passionate plots; the look of the film has to be stylish and glamorous, with subtext behind the shots. The romance part of the film is great also because the film becomes a feminist statement of women defying societal norms and doing what they want.
Woody Allen manages to tell romantic stories that also find satire and criticism in its characters. Manhattan is a pretty in-depth critique of 1970s yuppie culture, who go around talking intelligent nonsense and ruminating on their own problems. But these people are also engaging and believable. His cast is terrific; this is my favorite acting performance from Woody Allen and also of Diane Keaton. The cinematography is astounding; the black and white look makes this film really romantic. The iconic moments--the Brooklyn bridge, the museum--feel timeless and magical. The Gershwin score makes this film feel like true New York. And I think that's what I like about this movie. It serves as a love letter to and a loving critique of Manhattan culture.
ZADE:
Wes Anderson’s films are championed mightily by his
fan-base (what other working director has his or her own coffee book?).
Perhaps the reason why Anderson’s work resonates with many people my
age is because all his films have been released in our lifetime. I saw The
Royal Tenenbaums in theaters when I was eleven, and even then I recognized it
as something special. From Gene Hackman’s classic performance as the snarly
patriarch of the Tenenbaum clan to those glorious montages, Anderson’s
film is a vibrant and expansive portrait.
6. E.T. (1982) - Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is an essential artist. His stories have tackled
dark chapters in history, given us glimpses of future worlds, and have appealed
to a global audience. Spielberg’s blend of sentimentality, nostalgia,
and wonder comes together beautifully in ET. The charisma of his child actors,
the earnestness of the titular terrestrial, and John William’s
legendary score are essential components to this masterpiece.
5. Taxi Driver (1976) - Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese’s most complex film. It’s
not the blood or the dirty New York streets that lure viewers into this film.
Nor is it De Niro’s haunting portray of Travis Bickle.
Taxi Driver remains a potent work because of its ambiguities. How does the
story of a damaged cab driver and a young prostitute make us feel? What does
the piercing loneliness depicted on screen say about us or our society? I don’t
have the answer to these questions. I do know that in every frame Scorsese’s
work poses something to grapple with. And like the cyclical structure of the
film, I return to the film’s unsettling mysteries, amazed that
this virtuoso piece of cinema exists.
MANISH:
Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window is a film that works on a lot of levels. It's a murder mystery, a story about love and commitment, it's about the experience of watching films, it's about our obsession with gossip and watching people. The script is sharp, with brilliant dialogue and structure. Rear Window creates this little world that feels real and lived-in, even though it was all built on a soundstage. Only a commanding director like Hitchcock could keep everything under control. Everything in this movie is precise, each shot, each line, each musical cue. And I think it's the perfect Hitchcock gateway movie. It's hugely indicative of his style and it works as a fun potboiler thriller/comedy. But if you just peel back those layers, there's so much there
One of my favorite moments in this film is when Sally calls Harry to tell him that her ex-boyfriend Joe is engaged and he goes over. He sits on her bed while she paces back and forth, crying and tells him about Joe's fiancee. He gives her a tissue, she wipes her nose, and tosses it away as she circles back to him. He gives her another tissue and the cycle is repeated. This scene perfectly shows why I love WHMS so much. Director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron give this film so much life and humor with random funny bits. There is some emotional truth about male/female friendships and the grey areas between friendship and love. This movie is almost a perfect template for romantic-comedies because it takes two disparate people and finds ways to bring them together organically. They each fill a void in the other and their romance feels earned because their deep bond.
Catherine Deneuve made a career out of playing roles that deconstructed her own porcelain, dainty beauty. Her characters often withheld themselves from the outside world, harboring secret desires and intense mental states. In this film, her Severine escapes from her superficially perfect life with wild sexual fantasies and then works in a brothel to live them out. Severine is hard to read and understand and the film's own surrealist bent make for a puzzling experience. Bunuel keeps his cards close to his chest, more so than in his other surrealist tragi-comedies. The film is open to interpretation, certain scenes could either be real or mere fantasy; he won't tell us. Belle de Jour is also famous for its fashions. Styled by Yves St Laurent, Severine seems like a woman who has everything but the coldness from behind her eyes suggest she is far from being a living doll.
ZADE:
Playtime features a thirty minute comedic set-piece of a
restaurant in disarray. This sequence is one of the best examples of what Alfred Hitchcock calls “pure
cinema." Here, the ideas and images could only be communicated
through the medium of film. Laughs are dependent on camera placement, what is
in the frame and what is not. And the only thing we need to bring Tati’s
films is an observant eye.
3. Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles
Yes I enjoy watching Citizen Kane. I enjoy the journey through it’s
layered structured. I enjoy Orson Welles’ commanding
performance, story, and direction. Most importantly, I enjoy mulling over the
film’s timeless themes of ambition, loss, and myth. The
conversation centered around Citizen Kane unfortunately remains a stuffy
intellectual one. Critics and scholars talk of the films in reverent tones, because
it is the film consistently voted the ‘greatest film ever.' Let’s not forget though, that the film is a deeply emotional
one. It’s a film where one character professes “I
only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month
hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.” It’s because of speeches such as this that I love Citizen Kane.
2. Network (1976) - Sidney Lumet
Director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky crafted a
prescient film all those years ago. Network is a ferocious examination of the
media, power, and corruption. The film’s characters proselytize wildly,
scream at the top of their lungs, and abandon their decency and humanity. It’s
a cacophony of language that astounds me every time I watch the film. A
ferocious work.
MANISH:
Joe Wright is a director with a unique visual style. He uses long tracking shots in order to build a universe within a single setting. Much like the above Sense and Sensibility, this Jane Austen adaptation is modern. The film's world is lived-in, and the tensions between the classes feels even more pervasive and toxic than in Sense and Sensibility. The script streamlines Austen's novel but I feel it's to the better. Wright is more concerned with atmosphere than with faithfulness to the source material. The dialogue is biting, with lots of character humor and relatable insights. I think what I love the most about this film is Keira Knightley. Taking on such an iconic character, she makes Lizzie Bennett her own and is unafraid of showing her less admirable traits, namely pride and prejudice.
I first saw this movie in January 2011, after seeing Black Swan. And it really struck me as something out of this world. Directors/writers/producers Powell and Pressburger have crafted a film that blends reality with dreamscape through inventive editing and emotionally evocative sets. Jack Cardiff's cinematography captures the world of ballet--busy, beautiful, brutal--through a heightened color scheme and fluid camerawork. The highlight of the movie is the "Red Shoes" ballet sequence, which so seamlessly goes from a live performance to a hallucinatory nightmare. Martin Scorsese, one of this film's most vocal champions, has used this film as a template for many of his own films (especially Raging Bull). The film is a marvelous technical achievement and it tells a tragic tale about choosing between love and dance.
When I was in college, I took an intro to film course and for our final assignment, we had to write a paper on the first scene from a movie. I chose Vicky Cristina Barcelona; it was the first time I sat down to write seriously about films. And, more importantly, it was the first time I really took notice of Scarlett Johansson. Yes, my two great loves, Scarlett and film writing, were born from this film. Woody Allen's script, which takes an anthropological approach to the love problems of five people, is sharp, lyrical and existential. The Spanish setting allows for eye-popping cinematography (this is Allen's best looking film). Spanish guitar fills the soundtrack. Even though Scarlett is somewhat overshadowed by her more dynamic co-stars, including Oscar winner Penelope Cruz, I consider this one of her best performances. I love that Johansson exists on the fringes of the story; she's lost, confused, doubtful, self-conscious. Like in many of her films, Scarlett is the outlier, the misplaced misfit. It's a generous performance in its minimalism.
ZADE'S FAVORITE FILM OF ALL TIME:
1. Raging Bull (1980) - Martin Scorsese
My favorite movie. From its iconic and much
applauded opening image to the film’s closing words, Raging Bull is an
experience best felt rather than articulated. Most scenes explode into acts of
emotional or physical violence. De Niro and his surrounding ensemble have never
been better. The film is so carefully constructed and edited; its boxing scenes
still some of the most visceral sequences committed to film. I can’t
explain my connection to this film or why I’m so enamored with
it. All I know is, when that color montage of domestic life, a stark contrast
to the black and white world of the rest of the film, I am reminded I’m
in the hands of a genuine artist and filmmaker.
MANISH'S FAVORITE FILM OF ALL TIME:
I've written about Vertigo so many times and yet I feel like I could still talk about it for hours. Alfred Hitchcock is a director who's after my own heart; his vision is so precise and textured. Vertigo is a very cyclical film, where each shots recalls another and there is foreshadowing and re-shadowing. I've seen Vertigo over a dozen times (and the first time I saw it was in May 2009). What I like about this film is how it remains very clearly in James Stewart's character's headspace. This is not reality or anything close to it. Everything is a reminder of his love and failures and that is the psychological horror in the film. The camerawork is spellbinding, roving around, following. It's hard to think of another movie that perfectly matches my taste. Or was my taste shaped from this movie?
Thanks for reading! And thank you Zade for contributing!
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