Movies You Share with Others to Illustrate Your Taste or Whatever

Started by jenkins, June 23, 2016, 08:03:06 PM

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jenkins

Chungking Express

the speed, the feeling, the look, the sound, the city. everything i cherish about life and cinema is somewhere inside this movie. Rebels of the Neon God fulfills the same features for me but doesn't help me make friends always. showing Chungking Express to someone who's never seen it always helps me make friends.

Grey Gardens

anti-grid is still grid, in terms of rebel art, you ask me. living off the grid is the place to be, and Grey Gardens is a vivid and magnificent portrait of this place. they're so legit they break my knees, they have their own reasons for what they do and their lives are this particular oddity that comes only from being human. Taxi zum Klo fulfills the same features, actually a touch better imo, but Grey Gardens is an easy love.

Attack the Block

it's newish, it sounds right, looks great, and it's total movie. this one helps me have fun with others. Torque and Detention are where i'm headed but i can't always make it there with others, Attack the Block always lands, The Skin I Live In is the most helpful subtitled variation.

Shadows in Paradise

La Vie de Bohème is about romantic artists, with some big-name small parts, but it's b&w, which means insular, and in such circumstances i'd go authentic and show Of Human Bondage, but actually i mean i'd want to show Shadows in Paradise instead since it vaguely and directly correlates with me a person. if i can't introduce a person to my father i'll try introduce the person to Shadows in Paradise.

Score

so for the fifth, to mention five, this is the type of movie i'd show to a person who already likes movies but i find hasn't heard about Radley Metzger. we'd watch this movie without feeling awkward since there's nothing but fun if you're in.


Lottery

The way I intended this thread to work is an 'alternate favourite films'. Films that sum up your cinematic tastes or cinematic life perspective by stripping away the 'greater canon' of films. Those can still be included in your lists, but the goal is to see what films are close to your heart once you don't include the shared canon.
I'm hoping after everyone has posted, I can collect everyone's posts and make up a Xixax alternate film guide so people who come to the site can peruse something different to the typical must-watch films like 2001, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, TWBB, Stalker etc and can gauge what the users of this site are all about.
I'll try to avoid picking films that have already been selected so we can have greater variety (otherwise Chungking Express would be the first film in my list).

Lottery


McCabe and Mrs Miller - Robert Altman

A Western beyond all other Westerns because it chooses to go an entirely different path to the others in the genre. It doesn't entirely shy away from gunfights and violence, but its real heart is in the pioneer atmosphere and the central relationship between the gambler businessman and the prostitute madam. The film captures a warmth that I haven't felt in other films- this warmth derived from the juxtaposition of snowy alpine exteriors against the to cosy golden interiors and an understated
soundtrack. The sort of film you put on during a cold afternoon. Insular and isolated beauty.


Kiki's Delivery Service - Hayao Miyazaki

Studio Ghibli has no shortage of brilliant films to pick from and I was left struggling, wondering if I should pick a Hayao Miyazaki film or a Isao Takahata film. And while my head tells me to select 'My Neighbors the Yamadas' by Isao Takahata, I find myself drawn to Kiki's Delivery Service instead. This is a beloved film no doubt, but isn't as popular as the great classics such as Spirited Away, Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies. I think there's a hidden idealist/optimist in my that wishes the world could be this way. It's sincere, warm and free of antagonists. The film is just about a kid who's growing up and getting used to a new environment. Almost everything I admire about Ghibli is present in this film: boundless imagination, superb craftsmanship, human struggles, childhood innocence etc


Syndromes and Century - Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Both hypnotising and meditative, of all Weerasethakul's films, this one resonates most personally for me and is surprisingly calm and inviting experience despite its challenging nature. I think this was the film that made me truly realise that it's okay if you don't understand everything on the surface level. There's a transition halfway through the film that cleanly divides the work in two and it's the contrasts and similarities between the two sections that won me over. The brilliant structure of this film provides a look into the old world- maybe older values and also a look towards the future- a present day environment which seems a little too clinical and modern at times. The director states that the film is tribute to his parents and I can't help but internalise the idea and reflect on the rural origins of my own parents and their current lives in the modern world. We're left wondering about missed chances, alternate lives, the changing nature of the people around us, past present and future.


Still Walking - Hirokazu Koreeda

Still Walking is still Koreeda's greatest work and the purest version of the reserved family drama that he is so enamoured with these days. The director's talents for filming naturalistic characters in believable world are arguably strongest here. On the surface, the film is so relaxed and pure but there's a dark undercurrent of drama that presents itself in the film in covert and understated ways. It never gives into melodrama and that's one of thereasons it remains his most realistic and insightful work. Some families are all round crazy, but hidden away in the happier pockets of domestic life there's always mutter of diappointment and disillusionment. But the presence of happiness and love cannot be denied either.


Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson

At the risk of breaking the rules, I can't help but include this one. It exists in a curious place in the director's filmography, between the sprawling ensemble work of years past and the more grander, singular character explorations of present day. Perhaps, that is the reason why it doesn't recieve the respect it deserves from the mainstream- it doesn't appear to have the earnest intensity and ambition of Magnolia nor does it appear to have the substance and virtuosic vigour of TWBB. But it's a bloody beautiful film, I adore it. Few things me feel as drunkenly fuzzy as Blake's colour palette and the appropriation of 'he needs me, he needs me'. It doesn't drown in saccharinity because the overwhelming gorgeousness and love of the film is balanced with scenes of incredibly discomfort and anxiety. I feel like I'm truly appreciating the title only now. After years of looking for ways to describe the film, the title appears to be more than adequate.

EDIT:
Shit, should have added Sorcerer.

Jeremy Blackman



TITUS

Julie Taymor's masterpiece. Its weirdness and audacity resonate with me endlessly. This is one of two 3-hour movies I try to force on people.





MANDERLAY

This might be the one that epitomizes my love of confrontational movies. I had the pleasure of seeing this in the theater with a whole bunch of other uncomfortable people. Manderlay inexplicably gets overlooked next to Dogville. (Bryce Dallas Howard is better in the role than Kidman.)





STORYTELLING

My favorite Solondz. It's also firmly in the "confrontational" category. Pure cinematic candy from beginning to end.





ELEPHANT

The best film about violence that I've seen. An intense first watch. Accomplishes the miracle of depicting gun violence completely devoid of excitement, distilled to an essence that just feels like a total violation of humanity.





TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

FWWM has steadily grown on me over the years. It's basically Twin Peaks with the lid boiling off. Lynch skips past the quirky charms of Twin Peaks and drills right toward the dark center of the story.

Reel

^^ GREAT LIST!! I haven't seen Titus and hated Manderlay, but the other 3 are big favorites of mine, so I guess I should give them a shot.




REPO MAN (1984)


God, I love this movie! I think I'll see it countless times before my death. Firstly, for it's cheesy aesthetic. Like, they're not even going out of their way to make the special effects seem real, and I find them to look so much cooler for that. Then, there's the brilliant dialogue. So brash and mean, to the point. Funny as hell! I think it could be my favorite comedy. "We gotta get outta this baaad area"   "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are"  "John Wayne was a fag."


YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS(1998)



This movie kind of blew my mind when I was going through a period of watching and trying to deconstruct Todd Solondz' work and having a really hard time with it. I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around his ethos in punishing his characters so extremely. Then, this popped on IFC late one night and it felt to me like a Solondz film that doesn't wallow in it's characters depravity, but really pokes fun at it. It is so sharply written and darkly comical. There's never really a point when you feel at a loss for what Labute's trying to communicate.


JOE(1970)


I would recommend this movie to anyone who really wants to get a sense of what I like cinema to do. It's brutal, but Peter Boyle's character brings it so much levity. There's a timeless message in it about class and race that I don't think will ever become irrelevant. I consider it like a 'Taxi Driver' where you're not rooting for anyone to win.


THE ENTITY(1982)


To this day remains the best movie I've ever discovered through collecting VHS. Bought it for 50 cents and found myself really scratching my head and how audacious it was in riding this line between rape being scary AND funny? It's basically 'Poltergeist' for adults, made in 1982 as well. Scorsese's favorite horror film. One of the most uncomfortable times you'll ever have laughing.


GEORGE WASHINGTON(2000)


This really struck a cord with me when I first saw it. I must have been 15 and a bunch of friends invited me out to a bonfire in the woods but I decided to stay in. One of the best decisions I've ever made. I don't think any other movie has ever portrayed finding the beauty in the mundane as well as this. There's such a poetry to it. Feels like a Harmony Korine film if he never smoked crack. Everyone is so honest and upfront with eachother ( mostly teenagers ) yet it never hits a false note.  I find it HILARIOUS, too! "Put down dat doo doo, girl..." and there are so many inappropriate moments..it's never taking itself as dead on seriously as the subject matter is. It's one of the films I aspire to make something like if I ever have the privilege.


ono

Love the mentions of STORYTELLING, YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, and GEORGE WASHINGTON!

Storytelling is a favorite Solondz of mine, but I think I like Palindromes a tiny bit better (except I remember being disappointed by the ending).  I really love Your Friends and Neighbors.  LaBute's brutal honesty is refreshing.  George Washington is also one of my top films as well.  It eclipsed All the Real Girls in every way.  A more genuine take on the Stand by Me cookie cutter of a film.  This meandering, soulful tone poem about what it's like to grow up, and to be a hero.

I would mention YES by Sally Potter to illustrate my taste.  A film written entirely in verse about two lovers coming together than apart.  It's been years since I've seen it, but it's always stuck with me.

The Anniversary Party is one I also come back to.  I think it's inspirational because it's a bunch of great actors coming together and creating a story for the sake of it.  It's low budget, so it gives something aspiring filmmakers to aim for.  Alan Cummings, Jennifer Jason Lee, and John C. Reilly are all great in it.

If you want to follow down that rabbit hole, then you'd go The Brothers McMullen and Looking for Kitty.  The former was his first big break.  The commentary is wonderful for that purpose.  Looking for Kitty was even lower budget.  Not an amazing movie by any means, but it was a "major" movie shot on a consumer DV camera.

It's hard for me to laud movies that I've seen only once but loved, because I can't really remember too much of their specifics.  But a few that fit in those categories would be 25th Hour, Songs from the Second Floor, Last Life in the Universe, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... Spring.

Last but not least is Naked by Mike Leigh.  One of my favorite films ever.  The meandering sociopath who means well is our entry point, and that the film opens with a rape will turn off a lot of people (to this day, my girlfriend won't watch it, even though the value to be had is in the journey after).  The dialogs he has with the security guard and the other folks he meets along his jaunt are permanently etched into my brain, and to me they seem timeless; one step above Linklater.

Which reminds me, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are amazing too, but I still haven't seen Before Midnight.  You can see Linklater's progression here with Slacker leading into Waking Life and him perfecting his philosophical narrative aspirations in the "Before" trilogy (first two, anyway).