Kurosawa is my area of expertise; I’ll admit to being rather underschooled in the other three.
Kurosawa: The Big Three are vital, of course: Seven Samurai, Ran, and Rashomon. All are great, all are his most famous for a reason. However, I would actually suggest Throne of Blood for an oddball pick. To me, this is a quintessential Kurosawa film. Many of his themes are present, his adoration of foreign literature is obvious (it’s an adaptation of MacBeth), and the cinematography is about as good as Kurosawa ever had. Toshiro Mifune, a Kurosawa regular, stars, and he gives quite the performance. The scenery is beautiful. The special effects are impressive. It may not technically be as good as his greatest works, but I love it nonetheless. Red Beard is also an underappreciated but magnificent movie. It moves a little slower and its plotline is a little more sprawling, but it’s an affecting movie that I would recommend to Kurosawa beginners.
Fellini: Don’t start with Satyricon. I did, and I nearly gave up right then and there. Satyricon is pure, undiluted Fellini madness. It’s rather good, but it’s not the right place to start. Try 8 1/2. It’s the Fellini movie everybody has seen, and it happens to be really good to boot.
Antonioni: I’m woefully underexposed to Antonioni, even though many people say he’s one of the top directors of all time. I won’t recommend anything or advise against anything. Let somebody else take care of that.
Truffaut: Shoot the Piano Player is an easy way to get into Truffaut. The 400 Blows is an excellent movie well worth your attention. But really, you can’t go too wrong with Truffaut. I guess don’t start with Soft Skin or something, but he’s a reasonably accessible director.
Sorry, double post.
Wow, good for you!
Start with the basics
The Seven Samurai, Ikuru, Rashomon
La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2
L’avventura, Blow Up
Jules and Jim, Shoot the Piano Player, 400 Blows
Not to sound condescending, but you might not be ready for Antonioni yet, I certainly wasn’t at your age, but give it a chance..and if you are, that’s great!
kubrick, kid. start with kubrick.
kifah’s right, antonioni is a lil’ much.
l’eclisse, rashomon, 8 1/2, 400 blows.
Thx guys! I’ve already seen Seven Samurai and Rashomon, I love them. And Kifah, it doesn’t sound condescending. And a random recommendation: See King of Comedy by Scorsese, De Niro and Lewis are fantastic.
RM
Nobody ever remembers The King of Comedy. It’s a little gem in Scorsese’s filmography that everybody loves once they finally get around to seeing it. Nice recommendation.
I’ve already seen from Kubrick:
- Clockwork Orange – easily in my top 10
- 2001
- Full Metal Jacket
- Shining
- Dr. Strangelove
So essentially I’ve seen the bare essentials. He’s top 3 for my favorite directors, w/ Coppola and Scorsese.
Thank God! I was 12 when I started to really dig cinema too… now I’m 17 and I can pass on my experience to you… “experience”, I mean.
KUROSAWA – Sanjuro, Ran, Throne of Blood (since you’ve seen Seven Samurai and Rashomon)
FELLINI – La Dolce Vita, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria – then see the post-Neorealist stuff like 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits
TRUFFAUT – The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, Stolen Kisses
ANTONIONI – I agree with that other person about Antonioni being really heavy… he is, like a much slower and more quiet version of Bergman… but first see – L’Avventura, The Red Desert, Blow Up… DO NOT START WITH L’Eclisse… DO NOT… see that when you’re older… much older… and Blow Up may be a bit mature too…. but oh well….
by L’Eclisse being mature I mean emotionally… but not so much with Blow Up…
by L’Eclisse being mature I mean emotionally… but not so much with Blow Up…
Watch Truffaut’s “Small Change”. It’s beautiful. Antonioni is a bit heavy at twelve. Blow Up takes a few watches.
Throne Of Blood is my favourite Kurosawa. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with him. Hidden Fortress is great if only for its influence on Star Wars.
Watch everything you can…..it’ll be new to you at your age, but undoubtedly you’ll come back to these classics again in the future, and understand more. I vividly recall a series on PBS in the 70s (my teens) [I think it was called Film Classics and I’m pretty sure it was hosted by Charles Champlain, film critic) and many of those films were, and still are, the cornerstones of Janus and Criterion. As a teeenage kid in Kansas with no access to traditional art house films, that series changed my life.
and p.s. — don’t miss out on Cocteau (La Belle et La Bete, especially I think you’d like) and for an off-Criterion recommendation, Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw) — between the screenplay in part by Truman Capote, the amazingly intense performance by Deborah Kerr, and the astonishing cinematography by Freddie Francis (in black and white Cinemascope!), it’s a film that will also scare you big-time……
hey ryan, i too was 12 when i became obsessed with film, i just wish that i had had a resource like this when your age! with regards to kurosawa i tend to have a rather controversial stance, in that i adore his “melodramatic” drama’s, wonderful films like ‘scandal’ or ‘the idiot, yet really cant get into the samurai flicks. i cant recomend ’scandal’ highly enough, its probably in my top 20 of all time and is just majestic.
the best starting point for fellini is 8.1/2. with his oeuvre being fairly straight forward its easy enough to navigate yur way through the rest of his material using 8.1/2 as a starting point. im not the biggest fan of fellini myself.
antonioni – i would recommend the passenger, although it may be a bit mature for a 12 year old.
truffaut – the 400 blows really is the best place to start.
ryan’s post raises a really good point about world cinema, with the concept that a lot of the films, or at least a lot of the filmmakers have at least a portion their body of work that is accessible to those of all ages.
Hey Ryan, first, sucks to be called Brian all the time doesn’t it?
You can’t go wrong with starting at spine #1 and watching every Criterion Collection DVD in order. Or hustling up the money to buy the big Janus boxed set. But a few movies I remember watching at around age 12-17 that changed the way I looked at film—My Life As a Dog, A Zed and Two Noughts, Eraserhead, This Is Spinal Tap, Brazil. There’s so damn much to see. Happy viewing!
Hey Ryan, first, sucks to be called Brian all the time doesn’t it?
You can’t go wrong with starting at spine #1 and watching every Criterion Collection DVD in order. Or hustling up the money to buy the big Janus boxed set. But a few movies I remember watching at around age 12-17 that changed the way I looked at film—My Life As a Dog, A Zed and Two Noughts, Eraserhead, This Is Spinal Tap, Brazil. There’s so damn much to see. Happy viewing!
Hey Ryan, first, sucks to be called Brian all the time doesn’t it?
You can’t go wrong with starting at spine #1 and watching every Criterion Collection DVD in order. Or hustling up the money to buy the big Janus boxed set. But a few movies I remember watching at around age 12-17 that changed the way I looked at film—My Life As a Dog, A Zed and Two Noughts, Eraserhead, This Is Spinal Tap, Brazil. There’s so damn much to see. Happy viewing!
I agree with whomever said watch as much as you can. You will never have the perspective of watching great films as a 12-year old ever again. And when you revisit the films later in life you will have the added bonus of recalling what you thought of the films at age 12 and it will make the films that much richer. Watch Watch Watch. If you live near a city with an art house movie theater or a theater that shows old films, try to see as much as you can on the big screen.
Ryan, I love the enthusiasm.
My Life As A Dog is a must. It still inhabits my daily dream-space. For Kurosawa I would second, of course, Ran and Throne of Blood, but am surprised that no one has mentioned his noir films, which I think are stellar, esp. The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low (probably my favorite Kurosawa). Essentially with him you cannot go wrong. Even his minor films have amazing qualities (see Sanshiro Sugata). I would also recommend Dreams, but come back to that again when you’re older. I was 9 when I first saw Dreams when it was released theatrically, and I knew it was powerful stuff, and again some of those images will stay with me forever, but it wasn’t until years later when I was able to catch a screening at MoMA that I was able to delve into some of the particulars.
Let me put my experience with Fellini this way: Satyricon was my first Fellini when I was 12 or 13 and is still my favorite. I like his other work much less having seen that first. I recently saw that again in a theatrical screening and it is still the halcyon insanity that he was never able to replicate.
L’Eclisse and Blow Up are probably my favorite Antonioni, but I do agree that some of his work is a little mature, but don’t let that put you off, see it and if you don’t like it come back to it again in a few years. Blow Up is probably his most accessible, and so a good place to start.
Truffaut, for me, is a loss. I enjoyed Small Change in a French class in jr. high school, but have not really liked any of his other films. Large caveat: I have not yet seen Shoot the Piano Player (I’m afraid of not liking it, in all honesty), but for my money Godard and Melville are where it’s at. Breathless is obviously a good place to start, and you can’t go wrong with Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo; but Weekend, another film I saw at 12-13, is a pinnacle. Also check out Le Circle Rouge—the opening of that film is simply astounding.
I would recommend looking into the films of Kenneth Anger and Stan Brakhage as well for other directions that cinema can take you. I would heartily recommend Cocteau as well.
Happy viewing!
Agreed Jesse-Breathless, is absolutely a milestone film and should be seen at a young age. Beyond essential.
Moderated
Ryan, start with “White Mane” and “The Red Balloon,” then go straight to “Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom.” That should get you through the Thanksgiving weekend. Everything after that will be a piece of cake.
Vince, that was … just wrong!
RYAN …
To begin, go with THE 400 BLOWS. In French, that title is slang for ‘Raising merry hell.’ You can’t go wrong. And I agree with Brendan that you should then go right to SMALL CHANGE. Beautiful, and topical for you.
MY LIFE AS A DOG is a super suggestion, and might I suggest getting Woody Allen’s RADIO DAYS, Fellini’s AMARCORD and Barry Levenson’s AVALON. All of those are great beginnings.
ANY Kurosawa film is indispensible, but THE SEVEN SAMURAI is right up any 12-year-old’s alley.
And, yes, as if you aren’t already the coolest kid in your class, you can never go wrong with BREATHLESS.
Ryan, watch “Over the Edge”. I saw it when I was 12 and it’s the best thing since sliced bread and you are at the perfect age for it’s influence to alter you for the rest of your life. Trust me.
i think Blow-Up is easy to digest and i cant believe nobody has recommended Bicycle Thieves! u definitely need to see that!
l’avventura is a great one by antonioni. It was the third or really the fourth film I saw by film, but it was my FIRST. You know what I’m saying?
Truffaut is great. Most people like 400 Blows, but it gets even better with Antoine et Colette and the films afterwards. I would recommend Confidentially Yours and also Jules and Jim. If you don’t like J&J, I would watch it years later. ;)
Kurosawa, being my idol, I can do. I’d go with Hidden Fortress. The first time I saw that I was around 12, and it was just amazing. Ran, Yojimbo and Sanjuro are also great for entry points.
Man, Over The Edge is so awesome. I would have LOVED to have seen that as a kid. I could never find it, though. In the early 90s I remember reading about Kurt Cobain desperately trying to find a copy of Over The Edge, referring to it as one of his guilty celebrity indulgences, tracking something like that down several states away. I saw it for the first time a few years ago. So good. I saw Over The Edge, Paris, Texas, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf all for the first time in the same weekend. Talk about incredible movies.
Also, I would definitely back Small Change. I could make an argument for it being Truffaut’s best movie, even if I don’t fully believe that. It’s close, though, for me, at least.
Ryan Michaels
Hi, I’m Ryan and I’m 12 years old. I’m only starting to get into Kurosawa, Fellini, Antoinoni, and Truffaut. Could I get suggestions for some essential films from these directors?
Thx
RM