when i went into filmstruck with my 30 day voucher, i couldn't find a helpful resource for discussion of the movies within it. i was very disappointed in the internet so here is a helpful resource for "best movies on filmstruck", "movies to watch on filmstruck" etc.
The Crowd (1928)
Asked in the 1960s why no one was making films about ordinary people, Jean-Luc Godard said "Why remake The Crowd (1928)? It has already been done.”
a lot of people in a city have the same kind of problem. there are a lot of different kinds of people with the same kind of problem. they don’t really make movies about that anymore. it was really surprising when cities and cinema were building themselves, at the beginning of the 20th century, my favorite time period, but after it wasn’t surprising everyone acted like being nothing was nothing, when in fact i think it’s something.
Miao Miao (2008)
this movie is about being trapped in a glass cage of emotions, i knew it would be, that’s why i watched it right away. everyone alive has their own fight, and most Hollywood movies are about the most interesting fights. i like movies about regular emotions and this movie delivered. it’s about rich people and sacred emotions.
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964)
following calamities and innocent youth rebellion, in the end the camp leader really should have had a nicer perspective. that’s the feeling. be nicer. that’s always the feeling. have you seen Over the Edge? imagine that but in a camp and that was this movie. parents just don’t understand. like most european classics, this has major art, some fantasy.
Meantime (1984)
Mike Leigh is maybe better now, definitely, but those are great actors who get to play roles they aren’t asked to play anymore. some arresting performances and an ending with a lingering feeling. i activated my filmstruck promo to avoid doing things like buying this particular movie.
Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976)
how huge life here feels, in this shantytown overlooking Rome. this movie feels full of life. the narrative is a bunch of human nature. this is the Italian director of Il Sorpasso, A Special Day. a recurring quality within his movies is a strong human pulse. this one combines that with an outrageous trash-humans narrative. this is a beautiful trash version of Amarcord, this movie is a beast.
Judex (1963)
i own this on a R2 dvd which i can’t watch, so i see this movie whenever i can because of that. the elegance of this fantasy narrative astonishes me. this is an outrageous movie that’s fine tuned. straight-faced outrageous. it’s a total inspiration to me.
Suntan (2016)
Greece, my god. this isn’t even like current popular Greek movies, this is like current popular art house. this movie aches. the protagonist aches. one can feel it. the camera rests atop the feelings. and it’s a rather devastating story. there’s a lesson to learn, about choosing how to look at things. one should watch this movie to remind oneself not to choose to see things in such a way that fucks shit up bigtime, damn.
The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) [Big Time Operators]
this movie is razor sharp except its ending is lame. but the build up is totally worth it. England knows how to build character based narratives. Peter Sellers is in this an old man. he’s the theater’s projector. most of this movie takes place in a movie theater.
The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine (1931)
the first Japanese movie with sound i learned, but that’s not why i watched it, i watched it because of the year, the title, the synopsis mentioning a “jazz party next door.” a person whistling is a central part of the opening scene. later there’s jazz and discussions about eastern/western culture, living in a modern age, in the time of speed. it’s not only a product of its time but a fabulous representation of it.
The Woman in Question (1950) [Five Angles on Murder]
same year as Rashomon, same type of narrative involving one story told from five perspectives. another British movie. how is its cinema? legit. but I was most gripped by the words and i thought of the movie like a radio show. distinct personalities were well carved and story integrated. the story was people telling detectives about a person. the detectives wonder what the person was really like. the person ended up being a kind of mixture of what everyone said. the ending was lame, but they brought me all the way there and i wasn’t mad.
The Trial (1962)
i’ve seen it on dvd, seen it in the theater, watched it again anyway. the beginning is killer and the part with the disabled lady dragging the trunk through the lot in front of the sprawling apartment complex in the night with city lights showering the scene. those are my current lasting favorite scenes, although it’s Welles, Kafka, and Perkins, so (spoiler) i’ll keep returning to this movie.
Daddy Longlegs (2009)
the director of Frownland is the lead and Abel Ferrara has a side part. this is the Safdie brothers. i was able to correct my problem of not having seen this movie. more than glad i watched it.
Losing Ground (1982)
i enjoyed this movie very much, agree with it being placed in the company of excellent movies. it’s an 80s indie that’s the second movie ever written/directed by a black female, the movie is about black intellectuals, and some of the acting is bad sometimes, based on the script and actors, like many indies, but the pulse of the movie is sublime, like the indies worth watching.
Escape from Dartmoor (1929) [A Cottage on Dartmoor]
Anthony Asquith, the director of The Woman in Question. this movie is amazing. amazing. this and The Crowd are my favorites so far, confirming my opinion that this time period slays. the barbershop scene in this movie—slays. it’s a highly cinematic movie but some parts of the beginning bored me in that silent movie way that’s so dangerous, but from the barber scene to the end this movie slays. love-blood gushes. the criterion opening says Asquith made a great movie because he was interested in great movies, so him and Hitchcock are the two early examples of Britain doing a great job of making movies.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
so i went back to early Hitchcock, to compare. i could’ve watched The Lodger for a more direction comparison. i forgot to mention that in Escape from Dartmoor the protagonist was very anxious, it was clear from the beginning. Hitchcock is all about waiting to show. making the audience wait. but this movie is a lot of fun, you know. the cult. the shoot out. it was a well built movie but i’ve seen better Lorre movies and better Hitchcock movies (M and Psycho). is the remake better? i forget. i don’t think it is, i think they’re the same. i think Hitchcock has been around better characters.
Taipei Story (1985)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien is a lead in an Edward Yang movie. i was in from the beginning, sure. this movie is about depressing shit. it feels like real people living real depressing lives. Hsiao-Hsien thought he’d play professional baseball but now he can’t and he feels fucked. in a bleak way. just, all the time: fucked. that’s the bleak way. this is the type of style used in Suntan in a more futuristic context, with this style already laid out—here’s when this style was being laid out. this is post-Antonioni stuff my friends, this is Anotioni fused with Italian neorealism, is what it is, when i say it like that.
Cameraperson (2016)
i woke in the morning and watched this, which for some reason has been a good idea through my life, waking in the morning and watching certain documentaries (Hoop Dreams, Sans soleil). it just feels right. i was in the right mood and it felt like the proper temporal environment for learning of other people and places, which this movie excels in portraying.
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
Richard Grant, Withnail, you know. seeing him do some things was really impressive, parts involving running around and putting cardboard on his head. he was the everything of this movie, except for two animated birds at one point. i really liked his table manners comeback when he was being called irrational. he didn’t like how she said it.
Greed (1924) [4hr cut]
i watched the first fifteen minutes, which were full of still photos. the 2hrs of the movie that was saved are within the 4 hrs? i would’ve done 4hrs for a fractured cinematic narrative but not for an imaginary one. i checked later moments and saw segments of glorious cinema—all the film saved is glorious—but i saw more still shots and i just couldn’t give 4hr of my life to this enterprise. i watched the final ten minutes. i like how this was the first movie shot entirely on locations. i wish i could see this entire movie as a movie, however bad it became. but i gave up on this 4hr version with its still photos.
Set Me Free (1999)
a central question to coming of age movies is why in the hell one would want to fit in this damn world that’s so full of shit. that’s why i like them. movies of one’s past are prime spots for lush textures, just always. these are melodramas that happen as one is a teen, we all know it’s real, i like all the movies about this, this is a good one. the lead is shown watching, admiring, and imitating Vivre sa vie (which featured The Passion of Joan of Arc).
The Big Animal (2000)
Kiewslowki is a credited writer and this seemed like a better idea than watching that Tom Tykwer movie (which isn’t on Filmstruck anyway). this movie should be in color is a problem. i expected the type of humor it provided. this humor is common over the ocean and only done in america by Jarmusch? it might be true that all the best dry humor comes from over the ocean. i forget if that’s true or not, it doesn’t really matter. these movies calm me. a straight face amid hysteria calms me.
Desert Hearts (1985)
what, okay. what a fucking tone. there’s an emotional tone that elevates this far above just some movie. this movie is a feeling, many feelings, and more. well done.
The Browning Version (1951)
at the movie’s end he just accepts that his life sucked but it already happened? perhaps the bleakest of the movies i watched. but still with its strength. art always has strength. it’s art. you know. this was the third Anthony Asquith movie i watched, and i might’ve seen this one before, i think so, but i'm not sure.
The Only Son (1936)
garbage incinerator smokestacks in the background, the son asks his mother if she’s disappointed in him. he wonders upon whether he should have ever left the country, if being in Tokyo was worth his mother’s hard work. Ozu does this casually, of course. the mother’s later reply to her son’s fears of feeling like being just part of The Crowd—what a tremendous mother, a tremendous scene! there’s a part where the son takes his mother to an art house movie and she falls asleep while he loves it. always with Ozu i expect a good movie, and somehow he always exceeds my expectations. this was his first full talkie. i do not quite know if cinematic expression of human life has ever found a better form than Ozu.
