Full list of films watched this year:
The Schedule for the first semester:
First discussion: Casablanca
Second discussion: 2001
Third discussion: Gummo
Fourth discussion: Sorry, I can’t remember this one
Fifth discussion: Science of Sleep
6th discussion: Fight Club
7th Discussion: The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
8th Discussion: Metropolis
9th Discussion: Rosemary’s Baby
10th Discussion: Rear Window
As someone who shares your problem my answer is sex and violence. If a movie is foreign or old but is filled with sex and violence they will more likely watch it. The problem is of course that you are at a highschool so I don’t know the restrictions. Since I haven’t solved this problem for me maybe I have no right to give advice. When picking a movie to show at my birthday party I decided on Vertigo. It was action packed, in color, in English, I figured what more could they want (plus it rocks!). They all either left the room or talked so I had to turn it off in the middle.
My advice is don’t cater to that majority. Work with the other people who are not quite ready to watch Greed but are still more open then the average person.
My picks for possible films:
-The 400 Blows
-8 1/2
-A Clockwork Orange
-Annie Hall
-Apocalypse Now
-Belle de jour
-Blue Velvet
-Cries and Whispers
-Don’t Look Now
-The Godfather
-GoodFellas
-I vitelloni
-Last Tango in Paris
-Los Olvidados
-Mean Streets
-Midnight Cowboy
-Modern Times
-Mulholland Dr.
-On the Waterfront
-Paths of Glory
-Persona
-Psycho
-Ran
-Raging Bull
-Rashomon
-Seven Samurai
-Stalker
-Taxi Driver
-Touch of Evil
-Vertigo
-The Wild Bunch
Just a short list off the top of my head. I don’t know how involved your school is though because I doubt they would allow Blue Velvet or Last Tango in Paris. My school doesn’t have a film club. I am hopefully starting one next year.
Throw in some less famous movies like Bloody Mama or Johnny Guitar. Well, the latter is pretty well-known but not as much as the ones you listed. Just ones they might’ve never heard of. Nothing like seeing a great movie you’ve never heard of before. More suggestions (well-known or not):
El Topo
El Dorado
Alien
Two-Lane Blacktop
Nosferatu
if….
Brand Upon the Brain!
Freaks
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Oh my God, you have no idea how lucky you are to have a film club. My classmates still ask me if I’ve seen the Hannah Montanna movie I’m like fuck do I look like I want to see the Hannah Montana movie? You all should be ashamed of yourselves.
anywho…
I say break up the films by director, screenwriter, and actor rather than genre or time period.
How that will attract more students I have no idea.
But it sounds more organized. Less intimidating. More personable.
Honestly, you’re never going to be able to form a club that can make the average high school kid want to sit through a silent film.
My suggestion: stick with great examples of recent cinema (foreign or not), things that they might have heard of, and save 8 1/2 and The 400 Blows and Metropolis for kids who show extra interest. That way you are teaching a lot of kids about the art of film, and you have the opportunity to expose the ones who show real interest to some of the greats.
I wish my high school had a film club but I live in a hick town where we have a film study class and the teacher who teaches doesn’t know who Stanley Kubrick or Akira Kurosawa is.
So I really have no person in a 10 mile radius who really can talk with me about film except this college kid I know who works at my library.
But anyway, most kids I know at my high school are after either drugs or sex so I guess talk about lots of movies with drugs or sex. Basically, to make your club popular, don’t promote intellectual conversations.
Sorry, double postage.
Interesting topic…
10 Great Films High School Kids Would Like (that you can show in high school)
Paths of Glory – I would think kids IN the film club would like this, it is entertaining and short.
High and Low – This is a little longer, so thus more riskier, but this is one of the most entertaining Kurosawa out there.
Brazil – This one I think most kids would enjoy, it is in color and highly interesting, go with the shortest version though.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – Pretty much everyone will like this, filled with absolutely brilliant action and it is PG-13.
Psycho – Even my film illiterate brother loved this in high school, this one is great.
Chungking Express – Filled with color and crime! The second half they may drift off though.
City of God – This one is defiantly R, but high schools would rather show this because it deals with a great issue than some other R film. Kids will LOVE this, violence, drugs and brilliant visuals.
The Wrath of God – A little high on violence but not too much to make it disturbing. This one is very short and has lots of killing.
Terminator 2 – This one is less art but still a great film, if the kids don’t like this then, I am lost for ever.
Zodiac – Everyone who I have talked to in High School really liked it. It is long and has some cussing but…not too much.
Silence of the Lambs – A definite film which will launch someone into film.
Prosaically, don’t show silent film, that is foolish, you will maybe get a kid who likes it but you will loose everyone else. People who are even into film still don’t like silent films.
Directors to avoid – Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky (definitely Tarkovsky) etc.
Directors to show – Kubrick and Scorsese.
Leah: Start your own film club! We only meet once a month. Also, I like to let them members vote for the film to discuss so they feel they are important to club’s success, but if I did it by director, I bet they couldn’t even name a Kubrick film, let alone Fellini or Kurosawa.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!
@Chopin “Directors to avoid – Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky (definitely Tarkovsky) etc.”
You hurt me…you really hurt me.
I’d say pick some film noir
I’m hoping to start a film club next year too. Here are some French films I recommend.
Breathless
Au revoir les enfants
Jules et Jim
Elevator to the Gallows
Masculin Féminin
Three Colors: Blue
Three Colors: Red
Amélie
Léon or The Professional
The Valet
Mon oncle
Oh I don’t know that some of them wouldn’t like Stalker. I was telling a friend of mine about what it is about and thought it sounded awesome. It is long but I don’t know if a Tarkovsky were to be shown that would be my pick. Also I don’t agree with staying away from Bergman. I have gotten the other 2 film lovers at my school into Bergman. But yes of course they would prefer Kubrick and Scorsese to the others.
Repulsion
Persona
The Virgin Spring
Les Amants du Pont Neuf
Let the Right One In (show Twilight lovers a real vampire movie)
The Band’s Visit
A Man and a Woman
8 Femmes
Tell No One
The Last Metro
Hero
Forgot about Jarmusch, Down By Law
I too started a film club in high school. My film club was separated into more or less two camps, one behind me and one behind my club sponsor. Even though I was president of the club (and my friends were VP, secretary, etc.), we had to have an election, which was essentially a two party election. We won, but the other kids and their friends still showed up.
However, my club sponsor was into popcorn Hollywood films—but he was “into” them. So I had to trade off bi-monthly screenings with him, which was total BS and disillusioning to a high schooler trying to start his own damn club. The only film I clearly remember him showing was Spiderman 2.
I was already interested in movies outside of the mainstream. I showed films like Julian Donkey-Boy, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and the early films of David Lynch (fresh from the mailbox when he released that DVD). These didn’t go over well with many of the kids, and sometimes all of them. Even my best friend was laughing at Lynch short that I thought was fantastic. I sunk in my seat, got discouraged, and angsty like any good high schooler would when their passion was roundly mocked. People would joke when I walked in with a DVD case, “Uh-oh, here comes Ian with another one of his movies.” But I went on, uncompromisingly, until the bitter end of senior year. And the films my sponsor chose were completely more popular.
This may not be encouraging, but my conclusion from this was that my high school by and large wasn’t ready to get “into cinema,” or at least not the cinema I loved. And I wasn’t ready to screen a film I didn’t think would be new or different or challenging to them. Maybe I was too challenging, though I stand by my choices.
But if you have the right group of kids, with open minds, I think you could have a great film club that could flourish in a high school. It wasn’t mine, and it might not be yours. My high school was in a rich area of northern Houston. There wasn’t much art appreciation going on, except for the bong that one guy made in Sculpture without the teacher knowing about it (and it totally worked!) or the lace on the cheerleader’s thong that sits on the front row. I’m curious where your school is on the map, what it’s like, and what grade you are in.
However, two encouraging anecdotes that made the juvenile mockery and ridicule well worth it (aside from the fact that I instantly realized I was smarter and more cultured than all of these jerks. Just kidding… but not really.)
There was a kid who showed up to every film club meeting we had. He was a year younger than me, a linebacker on the varsity football team, and never really “got” the movies I showed. I know this because he would talk to me about them after the screenings. When I showed the Discreet Charm, he would scream “What!?” after every scene shift. I gave him rides home and we would talk about it. He was curious and kept coming. That one guy made it worth it for me.
Four years later, I come back to my hometown and run into a girl who came to film club at a bar. She had gone to film school and told me that some of her favorite films were ones that I screened, and wanted more recommendations. (A little ironic, given that she was getting formal training in film and I was a psychology major, writing my thesis on Herzog and Fassbinder’s response to the Holocaust.) During our club’s run, she was pretty quiet, though a regular. But she got something out of it.
Anyways, I hope that wasn’t a ramble or disheartening. You’re in high school. Not everyone will like what you show, and your club may wither and die. Don’t start by decade. Show them a French new wave with some tits and ass. Tell the kids in the hallway there will be nudity. Promise pizza after the movie, during the discussion, and put it up on the flyers. It’s gimmicky, but probably your best hope.
Let us know how your club goes next year. Best of luck.
Let the Right One In (show Twilight lovers a real vampire movie)
Totally agree with you there Nessa! :)
I would only suggest avoiding movies that are on top ten lists, or rather, movies that movie lovers are supposed to have seen. That’s not to say pick things that are under the radar, either. But if you’ve seen something that actually impacted you, then show that. Not just because it’s well known in some context. That’s the whole point of watching new movies, is because we haven’t heard of something, so we become curious to learn about other movies we haven’t heard of, and so continues the circle of life.
If you want specific movies then all I can do is just spout the movies that really got me into wanting to see different shit like Stolen Kisses, Kikujiro, Dodes’ka Den, Autumn Sonata, something by Takashi Miike, What Time is it There? (my cousin slept through hero but could stand tsai ming liang, explain that), and if they don’t accept italian neo-realism or new wave, then just don’t tell them that’s what they’re watching. Say it’s about a guy, a girl, and a gun.
Contemporary art films would probably work better than anything more than ten years old. Being of the moment goes a long way.
I once showed Irreversible to some young friends and they were riveted. They kept assuring me that they saw worse things happening every day in the halls of their school.
That was a very moving tale Ian.
I thought about this and I say forget trying to “educate” them in film.
Just show movies that made you fall in love with film.
The ones that just fascinated you and made you feel like the world was an okay place after all.
I would give examples, but I think they have to be YOUR examples.
The films you can talk the most and the most passionately about.
How about choosing from the titles suggested in the thread: Best Films about Film? ?
If the range of films selected could help start and further a focused discussion on the meaning and purpose of film in our lives and what is involved in making films, that would be very interesting for a high school film club.
I tried watching Eyes Wide Shut with a number of my friends and not one of them stayed awake, so they thought the title to the film was great.
I agree with Ian, you have to find the open-minded kiddies.
Just throw in some Kubrick and Scorsese and they’ll fall in love.
Definitely show Fritz Lang’s M. Quite an engrossing storyline, enough ‘action’ to keep the closed-minded kids interested and of course the camera movements, the whistling motif and the complete silence. But for longer films, such as Seven Samurai, give everyone a Red Bull or an energy drink or something. It will keep them up and focussed.
I admire your efforts to start such a good film club at your school. There is one at my school, but the selection is appalling. Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man 3, Get Smart, Indy 4, The Dark Knight – basically whatever summer blockbuster is released on DVD that month. It makes me sad.
I admire your efforts to start such a good film club at your school. There is one at my school, but the selection is appalling. Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man 3, Get Smart, Indy 4, The Dark Knight – basically whatever summer blockbuster is released on DVD that month. It makes me sad.
You are not going to find too many people interested in films like Virgin Spring or Stalker. You have to throw some carrots to get your classmates interested in ancient non-popcorn movies but that appeal doesn’t have to be just sex and violence. (Besides, you can find unfiltered sex and violence on the internet and video games since we are not living in the 60s…) Choose films that have an arresting plot with relevant issues.
Films like Mulholland Drive, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 8 Femmes, Elevator to the Gallows, Fight Club, High And Low and 400 Blows (to pick some movies recommended above) would thus appeal to more of your classmates. If you do decide to show the more ‘boring’ films, at least try to aid your classmates in advance by preparing something that would make them more curious about the “style”, “content” or the film-makers, something that would also “prepare” your classmates to properly watch such films.
Pulp Fiction
Citizen Kane
Rear Window
Shadows
Who’s that Knocking at my Door?
Modern Times
The General
Rashoman
Dr. Strangelove
Touch of Evil
Double Indemnity
8 1/2
Strangers on a Train
The Godfather
Raging Bull
Chinatown
Guess Who’s comming to dinner?
To Kill A Mockingbird
The idea to let people choose films is only workable if they know what they’re on about. Last year, a small group of guys from my school got together and watched two films every few weeks, just meeting and discussing and basically we worked off like a rotation thing, where everyone was given the chance to show the group a film or two they they love.
Films we covered:
- Fight Club
- American History X
- The Weather Man
- Donnie Darko
- 12 Monkeys
- The Prestige
- Trainspotting
- Con Air (as a joke)
- The Usual Suspects
- Sin City
- Children of Men
I guess it all depends on the size of the group…
Sean Walker Hutton
I’m president of the film club at my school. We discuss films (like we do here) as though it was a book club. As the year has gone by, the club has become more and more of a failure with less people coming. This year, I have had them discuss popular more recent films like Fight Club and old greats like Rear Window or Metropolis. I would love to show them some Italian Neo-realism or French New Wave or Film Noir, but I know they would accept.
This year was done by genre (picking movies by genre: Western, Foreign, Horror, Silent (that’s the only way I got them to watch Metropolis), Science Fiction, and Classic) and I was thinking of doing next year by decades starting from the 1910’s or 1920’s, but I know starting out with a silent film would not go over well with high school kids.
To get to the point, how can I get high school kids into cinema and make this club a success?