Blue Velvet is a good contender for best American film of the 80’s. As well as Lynch’s most successful. I’ve never seen another film speak more eloquently, that is, terrifyingly, of America’s schizoid psyche. Plus the stunning use of color, and Isabella Rosselini’s glamour: who could ask for more?
-The opening titles sequence of Douglas Sirk’s “Written on the Wind” with the drunk sports car wildly racing through storm-swept oil fields. Total melodrama.
-The party in Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou”, with each room lit in a different bright color (red and blue) and the guests speaking like commercials to each other. Incredibly funny and beautiful.
-In Jerry Lewis’ “The Nutty Professor”, the sequence tracking shot of bystanders in the street staring at the camera. The outrageous early 60’s colors and set design and the statuesque look of the extras are worth the entrance ticket. I adore that scene.
-The opening sequence of Preston Sturges’ “Sullivan’s Travels” with non stop wall-to-wall action in the dark. We have no idea what’s going on or who is who, and it goes on forever. Hillarious.
-The dancing scene in Resnais’ “Last Year in Marienbad”. Totally mysterious and glamorous.
It’s the simple, naïve yet strong beauty of pure melodrama expressed with the raw yet delicate means of cinema’s second decade.
Lilian Gish plays a child though she is a woman; Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinese man though he is white; his love for her is innocent though it is believed by her father to be sexual; the ending is everything but a happy one. In many ways, it doesn’t fit into the social, narrative, or sexual codes that we, almost a hundred years later, have developped and yet it just as fully human, in ways that are refreshing and awe-inspiring. Close-ups were a brand-new invention at this time, and each one of Lillian Gish is like a painting, like theater, and also completely modern.
Resnais’ first 3 (masterpieces all) bring the art of editing to its fullest fruition, in my humble opinion:
-Hiroshima Mon Amour
-Last Year at Marienbad
-Muriel
You can say it’s preachy, and it may certainly seem simplistic to our film/media/technique-saturated times.
The anti-racist message was pretty bold for that time.
But you can see it as a beautifully rendered modern fairy tale.
You can admire the performances, and what they convey about how we have changed in a century, yet also how we haven’t.
You can be fascinated by all that this film doesn’t do: all the sophisticated cleverness and technique that wasn’t available yet, and how something authentic and moving is being created despite that, or thanks to that.
There was that strange ambivalance with Griffith. Some of his early shorts are strongly pro-American Indian, anti-white.
But “Blossoms” is pure melodrama, a statement about human emotion, the rest is secondary. It’s all about those close-ups.
One of my favorites is Renoir’s “The Little Match Stick Girl”, a less well-known silent era fairy tale. Check it out if you don’t know it. Not preachy and really wonderful.
Renoir’s “Little Match Girl”: wonderful (few people know this one)
Griffith’s “Broken Blossoms”
Murnau’s “The Last Laugh”
Dreyer’s “Passion of Joan of Arc”
Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box”
Chaplin’s “City Lights”
Pudovkin’s “The End of St Petersburg”
Maddin’s (2006!) “Brand Upon the Brain”
and yes, Melies: the pure essence of cinema
Bob Dylan mentions “La Dolce Vita” in “Psycho Motorcycle Nightmare” (on Another Side of Bob Dylan", 1964, and Tony Perkins (clearly refering to Hitchcock’s “Psycho”) in another similarly funny song on a 1963 album.
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (one of the 5 best films of all time, IMHO)
“Dairy of a Chamber Maid”, not mentioned by anyone, should be.
Re: his late period and “Obscure Object of Desire” in particular, there’s something severely lacking there for me visually and otherwise: the combination of Bunuel having pretty much lost it plus the French 70’s visual blandness is too much. …or too little.
Why not go for Alphaville? Brilliant stuff.
A mock sci-fi flick where 60’s Paris is supposed to be some evil comic-book planet. Features American ex-pat B-noir movie actor Eddie Constantine. Paired with poetically gorgeous Anna Karina. All in beautiful sharp black & white.
David Lynch Overrated? over 3 years ago
Blue Velvet is a good contender for best American film of the 80’s. As well as Lynch’s most successful. I’ve never seen another film speak more eloquently, that is, terrifyingly, of America’s schizoid psyche. Plus the stunning use of color, and Isabella Rosselini’s glamour: who could ask for more?
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favourite scene from any film over 3 years ago
In no particular order:
-The opening titles sequence of Douglas Sirk’s “Written on the Wind” with the drunk sports car wildly racing through storm-swept oil fields. Total melodrama.
-The party in Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou”, with each room lit in a different bright color (red and blue) and the guests speaking like commercials to each other. Incredibly funny and beautiful.
-In Jerry Lewis’ “The Nutty Professor”, the sequence tracking shot of bystanders in the street staring at the camera. The outrageous early 60’s colors and set design and the statuesque look of the extras are worth the entrance ticket. I adore that scene.
-The opening sequence of Preston Sturges’ “Sullivan’s Travels” with non stop wall-to-wall action in the dark. We have no idea what’s going on or who is who, and it goes on forever. Hillarious.
-The dancing scene in Resnais’ “Last Year in Marienbad”. Totally mysterious and glamorous.
Go to Comment
Broken Blossoms: Am I missing something? over 3 years ago
It’s the simple, naïve yet strong beauty of pure melodrama expressed with the raw yet delicate means of cinema’s second decade.
Lilian Gish plays a child though she is a woman; Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinese man though he is white; his love for her is innocent though it is believed by her father to be sexual; the ending is everything but a happy one. In many ways, it doesn’t fit into the social, narrative, or sexual codes that we, almost a hundred years later, have developped and yet it just as fully human, in ways that are refreshing and awe-inspiring. Close-ups were a brand-new invention at this time, and each one of Lillian Gish is like a painting, like theater, and also completely modern.
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If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
Last Year at Marienbad
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Best editing in a motion picture. Or editing that captures the essence of the story. over 3 years ago
Resnais’ first 3 (masterpieces all) bring the art of editing to its fullest fruition, in my humble opinion:
-Hiroshima Mon Amour
-Last Year at Marienbad
-Muriel
Go to Comment
Broken Blossoms: Am I missing something? over 3 years ago
You can say it’s preachy, and it may certainly seem simplistic to our film/media/technique-saturated times.
The anti-racist message was pretty bold for that time.
But you can see it as a beautifully rendered modern fairy tale.
You can admire the performances, and what they convey about how we have changed in a century, yet also how we haven’t.
You can be fascinated by all that this film doesn’t do: all the sophisticated cleverness and technique that wasn’t available yet, and how something authentic and moving is being created despite that, or thanks to that.
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Criterion junkies here? over 3 years ago
ACE IN THE HOLE !!! ……Truly great Criterion release (and masterpiece by Billy Wilder).
’Nuff Said.
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Worst Criterion DVDs over 3 years ago
“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” was unnecessary. It’s badly dated, trite, imperialistic, boring.
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Broken Blossoms: Am I missing something? over 3 years ago
There was that strange ambivalance with Griffith. Some of his early shorts are strongly pro-American Indian, anti-white.
But “Blossoms” is pure melodrama, a statement about human emotion, the rest is secondary. It’s all about those close-ups.
One of my favorites is Renoir’s “The Little Match Stick Girl”, a less well-known silent era fairy tale. Check it out if you don’t know it. Not preachy and really wonderful.
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favorite funniest movie over 3 years ago
BORAT! (this film is a whole new frontier of funny: frightfully funny!)
BRINGING UP BABY! (seventy years later, this film has morphed into a surrealistic masterpiece)
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Silent Films over 3 years ago
Desert Island Silent Films:
- Renoir’s “Little Match Girl”: wonderful (few people know this one)
- a selection of Melies
- Griffith’s “Broken Blossoms”
- Murnau’s “The Last Laugh”
- Dreyer’s “Passion of Joan of Arc”
- Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box”
- Chaplin’s “City Lights”
- Pudovkin’s “The End of St Petersburg”
- Maddin’s (2006) “Brand Upon the Brain”
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FAVORITE SILENT FILMS/DIRECTORS over 3 years ago
In random order:
Renoir’s “Little Match Girl”: wonderful (few people know this one)
Griffith’s “Broken Blossoms”
Murnau’s “The Last Laugh”
Dreyer’s “Passion of Joan of Arc”
Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box”
Chaplin’s “City Lights”
Pudovkin’s “The End of St Petersburg”
Maddin’s (2006!) “Brand Upon the Brain”
and yes, Melies: the pure essence of cinema
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SONGS (MUSIC ) ABOUT ACTORS OR FILMMAKERS over 3 years ago
Bob Dylan mentions “La Dolce Vita” in “Psycho Motorcycle Nightmare” (on Another Side of Bob Dylan", 1964, and Tony Perkins (clearly refering to Hitchcock’s “Psycho”) in another similarly funny song on a 1963 album.
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My Top 25 Performances of All Time over 3 years ago
Kirk Douglas in “Ace in the Hole”!
Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard”!
(I CAN’T BELIEVE NO ONE ELSE SELECTED HER!!)
Falconetti’s “Joan of Arc”!
Susan Tyrell in “Fat City”!
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
MAGNIFICIENT AMBERSONS
THE JOYLESS STREET (uncut version)
CASANOVA (uncut version)
VIVRE SA VIE
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Directors that consistently make terrible films over 3 years ago
BERTRAND BLIER !!
MARCO FERRERI !!
CECIL B. DE MILLE !!
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
To All You Herzog Fans Out There:
All (or most) of Herzog’s films are out on ANCHORBAY, in beautiful remastered director’s cuts with commentary by the master himself.
So maybe Criterion should focus on more needy material ( Abel Gance, Ambersons, Marienbad, …)
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The Best Movie Cities over 3 years ago
PARIS. Period.
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Best title over 3 years ago
SUNSET BOULEVARD
LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES
DON’T LOOK BACK
PULP FICTION (the title being the only good thing about this film… Tarantino’s titles are all excellent, unfortunately.)
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Favorite underseen/unknown directors over 3 years ago
HAL HARTLEY, fer Crissakes!
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Classic Actors/actresses over 3 years ago
I’ll just mention the favorite:
Marlene Dietrich
Katharine Hepburn
Gloria Swanson
Marlon Brando
Montgomery Clift
Henri Fonda
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FANTASY ARTHOUSE DOUBLE FEATURE over 3 years ago
MELIES / BLUE VELVET
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Your favorite title sequence over 3 years ago
FAHRENHEIT 451
WRITTEN IN THE WIND
TOUCH OF EVIL
UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME (A Woman Is A Woman)
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Best or Favorite Opening Sequence over 3 years ago
‘Written In The Wind’: the mad drunken sports car racing through Texas oil fields at dawn.
Total melodrama, visually gorgeous as only Sirk can do.
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Underrated movies/actors over 3 years ago
DUSTY B: it’s not Anna Karina in “The Mother & the Whore”. (Wish it was.)
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Fassbinder's earlier works over 3 years ago
This is not an early work, but “THE THIRD GENERATION” (ca.1978) is a masterpiece, IMHO.
A brilliant, wild, tragi-comical portrait of 70’s leftist-anarchist counter-culture.
Incredible use of sound, splendid acting, unforgettable scenes.
Firmly on my 10 favorite films of all time list!
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French Film over 3 years ago
I personally feel Rohmer is the personification of French cinema.
Plus Ophuls’ “Le Plaisir”, Cocteau/Melville’s “Les Enfants Terribles”, Resnais “Last Year in Marienbad” and Tati’s “Playtime”.
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Buñuel recommendations? over 3 years ago
My essential Bunuel:
L’AGE D’OR (door and mind-opening use of cinema)
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (one of the 5 best films of all time, IMHO)
“Dairy of a Chamber Maid”, not mentioned by anyone, should be.
Re: his late period and “Obscure Object of Desire” in particular, there’s something severely lacking there for me visually and otherwise: the combination of Bunuel having pretty much lost it plus the French 70’s visual blandness is too much. …or too little.
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breathless or contempt over 3 years ago
Why not go for Alphaville? Brilliant stuff.
A mock sci-fi flick where 60’s Paris is supposed to be some evil comic-book planet. Features American ex-pat B-noir movie actor Eddie Constantine. Paired with poetically gorgeous Anna Karina. All in beautiful sharp black & white.
Go to Comment
French Film over 3 years ago
Godard and other Nouvelle Vague people would always sum up the great dialectics of cinema as that of “LUMIÈRE VS. MELIÈS”.i.e.: naturalism vs.fantasy.
That seems to me a great starting point as these 2 (Lumière & Meliès) represent not only the birth of French cinema but the birth of film itself.
In any case, some MELIÈS should definitely be included. This guy remains for all times the soul of cinema.
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