Well, that can be difficult. Now, of course, sometimes, a work that is a masterpiece is a great place to start, or, at least, to see what he or she can do; for Truffaut, I started with The 400 Blows (where else), and it hooked me automatically.
I do, though, love Bergman, and when someone doesn’t know of him, it might not surprise me, but it certainly makes me sad. If I was to tell someone to watch Bergman’s movies, I’d probably go in order from lightest to darkest, perhaps starting with Fanny and Alexander, or soemthing, and then going on with…um…some other ones. I would really want someone to watch both Winter Light, and The Silence, two films I beleieve to be absolutely some of the best filmmaking ever produced (and I mean EVER), although those two are very cold films, and, perhaps, they could turn someone off (sadly). It would be very difficult to choose three, actually, of course.
Totally didn’t answer the question.
Or, I could do Richard Linklater. I’d start with something most people are proned to like, Dazed and Confused (or maybe School of Rock…not too many people I know don’t like that movie, if anyone), and then it might be Before Sunrise (although I truly love Before Sunset, the film that I find the better of the two, also the first I watched of them), and, lastly, I’d show him Waking Life, which has got to be Linklater’s absolute masterpiece. Frankly, I’d also love to show him Tape, a film that seems overshadowed by much, and also one that I can hardly find anywhere to save my neck.
Savvy
“Josh that Cronenberg guy is terrible, it’s all VHS vaginas and puss filled television sets. What the fuck do you see in him?”
“Beta tapes.”
“What?”
“Beta tape vaginas.”
“Oh fuck you.”
“Don’t give up on him yet.”
“I will watch three and only three of his movies. Win me over, smart guy.”
“Well first you should watch Eastern Promises. It’s a little more usual than some of his other work, and while that upsets diehard Cronenberg fanatics, it’s a great one to start off on. Then maybe The Fly, because it mixes his trademark fascination with science-gone-wrong and the malleability of flesh with a convincing love story that’s pretty well acted. I think you’d dig it. And finally I’d watch eXistenZ because it’s really submerged in all of the New Flesh stuff he’s known for but doesn’t take itself so seriously so it’s not so hard to watch.”
“Why not Crash, you’re always talking about that one?”
“Just watch the goddamn movies and shut your stupid mouth.”
That sounds like it was based on an actual charming experience, JW. Either that or you should take up scriptwriting- if not already
“i like my whisky hard, my women soft and my west all to myself.” There, i knew it.
I never get to have this conversation with my friends because most of them are the kind of people who went to see norbit… willingly… and enjoyed it
but for stanley kubrick i’d probably start them off with full metal jacket because they’d most likely enjoy that then i’d show them a little a clockwork orangeand top it off with dr.strangelove
for kurosawa, obviously, i’d have to go with seven samurai, rashoman, and ran
For Mizoguchi, Sansho the Bailiff, Story of the Late Chrysanthemums and erm…ah yes, Woman of Osaka.
Kenji, I do write poorly thought out, convoluted scripts from time to time but I wouldn’t call myself a writer. Good guess, I guess.
Poopmannyman, I’m in total agreement with you Kubrick-wise, but two of your Kurosawa choices seem kinda weird. All of them brilliant films no doubt, but for first timers Seven Samurai can run a little long and deal too much with the villagers at least for the first thing they watch, but perhaps that’s just a pessimistic view to take with people. Ran, however, that’s one hell of a dark film and long too, I’ve tried to get friends that already like Kurosawa into that movie and they find it hard to take.
I’d probably go with Yojimbo, because it’s one of his easiest and funnest to watch, lots of great characters and dialogue, Drunken Angel, because it’s my favorite and I’m completely biased towards it’s mixture of humor and depravity plus it’s criticism of the American occupation, also it gives them something to watch that isn’t a samurai movie, and finally Seven Samurai. Because I figure after they’d sat through Yojimbo and Drunken Angel they know that Kurosawa isn’t going to waste their time.
i agree that seven samurai is long, but many (including me) consider it to be his best work
Hey, I’m not insulting it at all. I love Seven Samurai, and it’s absolutely one of his masterpieces. But I think some people may get tired after the extended sequence of the villagers at the beginning, and give up on it.
But Seven Samurai has a sky-high average rating on most sites i’ve seen, seems to have a very wide appeal. I should add on Mizoguchi, that Yoda himself rated Woman of Osaka very highly.
True, Seven Samurai is a 10/10 movie and most critics will agree. For the layman, however, I’d consider a three hour samurai epic that deals significantly with the plight of the peasants a little daunting for the first thing they see.
here I go again…
Satyajit Ray, if you have seen Mijoguchi and like Ozu or any director that believes subtlety is the greatest virtue and without being neither minimalistic nor didactic makes amazing films out of social parables and examines human condition like any top director you know
of – watch Pather Panchali and follow it up with the 2 other in the Apu Trilogy.
the biggest part is done, now you can easily get into the more varied themes like Charulatha, Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), Calcutta Trilogy (Pratidhwani, Seemabaddha, Jana Aranya).
I challenge you that the experience will be may be not life-changing but definitely life-affirming.
Filmy Andy, someone after my own heart, subtlety without mannerism and self-promotion is what i admire, but for such a major director Ray is appallingly neglected.
This thread was started several months ago:
My favorite director is Patrice Chereau. But it’s rather rdifficult to talk about him because the people who know his work in opera are usually unaware of his films and vice versa. And then there are those who aren’t aware of any of his work at all. It’s exhausting!
Woody Allen is my favorite director and while my 3 favorites of his are Crimes and Misdemeanors, Annie Hall, and Sweet and Lowdown (easily his most underappreciated) I probably wouldn’t have them start there. I know Annie Hall would be for certain for it is the definitive romantic comedy of all time. Other than that, it would depend on the person. If they are into quirky films I might give them Zelig and most of my friends would chose Match Point over Crimes and Misdemeanors, I might still tell them to get that. I would for sure have to give them one of his early comedies which are plenty accessible like either Sleeper or Bananas or Love or Death.
For Guy Maddin, everyone should start with My Winnipeg or The Saddest Music in the World for they are his best works and if you don’t like those, I can’t see you like any of his other efforts.
One of my favourite directors is Sergio Leone. So if someone said oh, I’ve never seen anything by this director, but I’d heard their films weren’t that good.’ I’d show them the Dollars trilogy. All of three films are highly enjoyable, catchy scores, no scenes where you’d cringe and look away, and eautiful cinematography. However, if I knew that they wanted more serious and dramatic films, I’d show The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West and Once Upon A Time In America.
Well, that reminds me only the other day, my wife and i met a nice little old lady, in most peculiar colourful garb, in a café at that great cultural metropolis Hay-on-Wye in Mid Wales, and she was telling us about herself, after first admiring our dogs and suggesting they might like a bit of the fine lamb soup; it soon turned out she was into motorbikes and cannabis and Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns. But she’d not seen or even heard of Once upon a Time in the West. “How extraordinary, so it’s even better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Charles Bronson’s the goodie and Henry Fonda’s the baddie!?” she exclaimed, “now that i must see”. And with that she finished her soup, declaring it the very finest she’d tasted, even surpassing the spicy chicken in the same café 2 months before.
I’m just transcribing a recording i made a week ago at a wildlife park. I’d gone back there armed with a tape recorder because of the extraordinary sounds i’d heard on my previous visit, with my master Lord St-John Carruthers, when we were sitting on a bench by the cage of some Australian creature called the lyre-bird. I’m no great shakes with birds but i remembered someone saying it was a superb lyre bird. and it was amazing. It didn’t look superb or amazing to me. Well, see what you think on youtube, there’s something on there with David Attenborough but i’ve not got round to it yet. To my astonishment i heard the very conversation we had had, coming from somewhere nearby. I was flabbergasted that some scoundrel should not only have taped us but be broadcasting it to all and sundry.
Lord S-J: So, my man, i’ve brought you here as Lady Goode-Farquahar told me she’d heard this is now the 25th anniversary of your becoming gardener with us, and also the 50th since your father started with the family too. She suggested some sort of recognition, as she found it keeps her servants happy. She’d been told by her cousin of strange noises that have been coming from this park, not just the normal animals, and she took her maid with her .
Kenji: Well, i be flattered yer ’oner. All these years at Arbuthnot Manor, and never before ’av i been off the estate.
Lord S-J: There’s something i’ve wanted to ask you, how is it you’re called Kenji, isn’t that some damn foreign name?
Kenji: Oh, yer ’oner, it be cos my father when ’e were courtin my dear mam, ’ad seen a film once by a Japanese film director called Kenji Mizoguchi and they were so taken with it, they decided to call me after ’im.
Lord S-J: Well, how extraordinary. But surely those Japanese aren’t up to making decent films, absolute rotters they are, you only have to remember what they got up to in Burma. And Lady Goode-Farquahar told me she once saw glimpses of one, Come to your Senses i think it was called, and it was the most disgusting filth she’d ever seen.
Keni: Oh no yer ‘oner, that would have been In the Realm of the Senses, but other Japanese films aren’t like that. I get ‘em sent by rental. You must see Sansho the Bailiff by Mizoguchi. Oh it’s a real corker, the way those poor mites suffer and ‘er such a pretty young thing. Oh and Story of the Late Chrysanthemums that’s another good ‘un, ’e’s an actor and e’s not up to family standards, and the servant tells ‘im it straight, so she gets sacked for being too high and mighty, and above ’er station an all, but the young master, is ’eart is smitten and ’e goes off with ’er and joins another group of actors. Oh it’s a real ‘eartbreaker. Mizoguchi, ’e can really get the old tears flowin’, i ‘ad to use 2 ankies. With Sansho i ran out of tissue. There’s another by ‘im i really like, Woman of Osaka, but it’s not around any more, and noone else has seen it since the war.
Lord St-John: good lord, do you mean to say noone else on earth has seen the film, except for a gardener! Well there’s more to you than meets the eye, Kenji.
Kenji: oh sir, i love ‘is films even more than i love the dahlias in the East bed. If you’ll pardon me for sayin so. As it’s a special occasion might i ’umbly ask yer honor one thing in return? ’Ow is that some of you aristos ’av strange ways about you, mixing with them film star types?
Lord St-John: How dare you! Ho, oh you mean Guy Ritchie and that awful Maradona? We all warned him but he wouldn’t take a blind bit of notice. And she’s a damn yank. Nothing good could ever come of marrying a type like that. Lady Goode-Farquahar’s out of her head with worry, her son’s smitten with the younger sister of some Hollywood actress called Jolie, and she’s a headstrong young filly to boot, probably this modern type to want to keep her own surname, which will only drag the Goode-Farquahar’s name through the mud. No, those yanks just aren’t good breeding stock.
Kenji: I know what yer mean sir, i’ve ‘erd it said Winston Churchill’s mother was from there, and he looked just like a bulldog. But then again, doesn’t yer own affliction come from inbreeding?
-
And that was how my 25 years of service at Arbuthnot came to an end, but i’ve taken the time to take an elocution course and work on my diction since. As Michael Caine said, every problem is an opportunity
it soon turned out she was into motorbikes and cannabis and Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns.
Are there many of these types of old ladies in Wales?
Hay-on-Wye isn’t like other places! It’s the town of books, loads of second hand bookshops, and it declared itself independent some years ago. There’s a literary festival that’s got very big, with people like Bill Clinton, Gore Vidal, Paul McCartney and various writer celebrities. It’s twinned with Timbuctou.
And in case anyone doubts it, it’s cross-my-heart true about her.
SpiderGod
You’re having a conversation with someone and happen to mention a particular director whose work you especially like. The person says, ‘oh, I’ve never seen anything by this director, but I’d heard their films weren’t that good.’ After the usual shocked reaction (how can anyone think that a director I like isn’t any good!!??), you start making your case. The person agrees to watch three, and only three, films by said director. Having picked your director, what films do you recommend to get someone to appreciate that director, and why those particular films?
It strikes me that the choices are not always obvious, as often a director’s best work is not what you’d want to use as an introduction. For example, I wouldn’t automatically use ‘Vertigo’ as an introduction to Hitchcock for someone with little film experience, or ‘Persona’ for Bergman. But neither would I automatically use a director’s most popular work (‘The Sound of Music’ is very popular, but isn’t really typical of Robert Wise, for example).
So— your recommendations?