“Mirror” by Andrei Tarkovsky. I chose to do a project about it for a Russian film class (the first film class I took…I had basically no familiarity with art films before that point) because someone I knew recommended it. I was totally baffled at first but after watching it several times, I begun to realize the kinds of things film is capable of that no other art is.
There are several I’ve seen since then that have been just as moving, but those have only affirmed what Mirror showed me for the first time.
“The Cranes are Flying” and “I Am Cuba”, both by Kalatozov, are pretty amazing (I’ve heard “The Letter Never Sent” is great too, but never seen it). In the silent film realm, Pudovkin’s “Mother” is supposed to be good, and “Earth” by Dovzhenko stuck out to me (I know Tarkovsky was a fan of his work in general). “Russian Ark” is another obvious one.
The library at my college is incredibly massive in terms of film selection. Everything criterion has released is in it, not to mention a very very huge variety of other films.
I like to watch films alone the first time, then often with friends the second time (especially if it’s one I like a lot or feel that it’s special in some way). There are some exceptions to this – I’m more willing to watch english language films with other people, for example. And some of my friends are good at paying attention to what’s on the screen and not asking about/commenting on every single thing that happens, so I’m more willing to see things for the first time with them
The Seventh Seal is good and all, but there are so many better and less goofy Bergman movies out there. I would just rent it so you’ve seen it and then buy the other two.
I had no idea so many people liked Mulholland Drive or The Mirror that much. I’m always watching and rewatching films, so the list is very subject to change. The more I see films, the more the list of films that I need to rewatch to appreciate increases. The latest one I’m on the fence about is L’avventura. I love Monica Vitti’s character and I love the visuals, and I’m surprised at the film having a lot more heart than I thought it would given that I saw Blow Up before. But I still have lots of reservations about it. It may very well turn into one of my favorite films after a second or third viewing, though. Anyway, here’s my list:
1. Mulholland Drive (Lynch) – It just devastates me, both times I’ve seen it. I expected this semi-cheesy but fascinating Twin Peaks-ish narrative from the beginning but there were little twinges of weirdness that suggested something else – that first scene in the diner with the two guys talking to each other and it’s blindingly bright and the camera is trying to do this over the shoulder dialogue thing except it seems like it’s just going to float off into the air. And then things start getting more and more sinister and you have these David Lynch-isms like the cowboy saying cryptic things sort of fall apart and give way to something much deeper and more profoundly upsetting. The scene towards the end where Camilla invites Diane to the director’s house taps into a lot of things for me. It’s hard to explain it. I’ve seen the film twice, and I will wait to see it a third time until I’m with someone special.
2. The Mirror (Tarkovsky) – I’ve seen this film so many times. It’s really hard for me to put into words why it has affected me so much – it might have something to do with the way the guy films nature. It’s serene and terrifying at the same time. Or that this film covers such a large gamut of events and emotions in just over 100 minutes. The word genius should be used sparingly, but Tarkovsky is a full-blown genius.
3. 8 1/2 (Fellini) – I’ve seen this three times, two with friends. It’s just a great testament to a virtuosic filmmaker – everything is so alive and fun and hyperreal. It’s also one of those films that speaks towards the necessities of cinema and the need to favor one’s own expression over silence.
4. Persona (Bergman) – I’m currently reading over the Sontag essay about this film because it’s damn confusing. From a bare emotional response that I got after seeing it, what I did see terrified and disturbed me deeply in a way that no other film has ever done.
5. Videodrome (Cronenberg) – Sometimes when I’m watching a film, especially for the first time, I say to myself “gee I wish they would push this a little bit farther”. And then I saw this film. It’s so gloriously absorbed into its own weirdness in a way that I find extremely satisfying. I don’t even want to begin trying to interpret why I do.
6. Nashville (Altman) – This is a long movie. It’s 150 minutes but seems so much longer because of the endless characters and mini-storylines going on. And then those threads come together into this shocking and strangely affecting climax.
7. Network (Lumet) – A well-filmed movie with an immaculate script that has unfortunately only increased in relevance over the years.
8. The Conversation (Copolla) – I’m not a big Godfather fan, but this film really did it for me. The couple scenes in the hotel room – with the toilet and with the bloody handprint are some of the most disturbing I’ve ever seen. The point that you can analyze things on a very scientific and objective level and still miss the obvious is also a very important one.
9. Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky) – One of the few films I feel no reservations about calling an epic. Is it just me or is the Criterion release a not-so-good quality? It must have to do with the circumstances surrounding the Soviet film industry and the film’s many different cuts, which is a shame.
10. Repulsion (Polanski) – I hate it when people try to say that the main character is simply sexually “repressed” and imagining the stuff she does out of some misplaced desire, instead of out of some more intense psychological fear. Not that it should be read as a case study of a psychological disorder. One of the interesting things about this film is how often the “reality” of the film coincides with the character’s psychological descent – she seems to have some justification in her paranoia, given the amount of guys leering over her.
Irreversible. Yeah, bad stuff happens to people who don’t deserve it, no shit, that’s something it takes about two seconds for anyone with a brain to realize. I admit I like the way it was filmed, and I like that very last part of it that has the Beethoven playing over it, and the concept of going backwards was interesting. Still, I don’t need to see a 10-minute rape scene, or endless queasy scenes of lots of guys jacking off, or that guy getting his face bashed in with a fire extinguisher. Or at least, I’d rather not have those be the complete focus of the film. It’s really seemed to be focused on pure sensationalism that gets off on how far it can go rather than saying anything that moves beyond a really elementary point about people being bad and events getting out of control. There’s just something, beyond even the violence and everything else, that I really loathe about this film.
Funny Games. I want to punch Haneke in the face after seeing that (though I like Cache). Any film that focuses on thwarting viewer expectations at the expense of saying anything interesting or insightful is not a film I have any interest in seeing.
Right on to anyone who said The Dark Knight. fuck that film. It’s a crassly designed and marketed blockbuster with a couple really good performances, that’s it. Any sort of point this film has is buried under its constant ADD-ish need to always have something happening in the plot.
Boondock Saints was dumb aside from Willem Dafoe. I don’t appreciate the idea that mass killing of “bad” people is justified. It’s such a unrealistic portrait of the universe.
Lars and the Real Girl was a boring and unmemorable feel-good “quirky” indie movie. The same applies to Little Miss Sunshine for me, though that was at least a bit more interesting.
Weekend by Godard I did not like. I appreciate parts of it and the idea of it, but I don’t appreciate it when I feel that films are veering off into lazy nihilism. Please give me something beyond “I am the director and I just fucked with you, haha!” I like Breathless and other bits of Godard I’ve seen, though, so I’m going to give him more of a chance.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy was very watchable and everything, but I’ve never been much of a fan of the story in general.
I have mixed feelings about Boogie Nights by P.T. Anderson. I loved the cast and the way it was filmed, but didn’t like how it went on and on and on and time it spends on different characters meeting different fates was kind of strange to me. Maybe I just didn’t relate to it or connect with the people in it very much.
Chinatown is a movie I really, really like. And the ending is really memorable, and I can’t imagine how else it would end, but I still don’t like it. Maybe it’s because I don’t necessarily think that’s the final word? Maybe I just don’t like it when something tries to say “bad stuff happens to people who don’t deserve it” and then just leaves it at that. Life is more complex than that.
Also, on the subject of Polanski (strange because I’m a huge fan of some of his other films), Knife in the Water did basically nothing for me.
There are others, I’m sure. I try to give a lot of different films a chance, but I often surprise and confuse people by my visceral reactions of disliking something.
It’s fictional and a comedy, but This is Spinal Tap is still one of my favorite films about rock music. I like Gimme Shelter and the Devil and Daniel Johnston a lot too. Been wanting to see Jandek on Corwood and 30 Century Man, both of which are supposed to be good.
I’ve not seen really any of the films mentioned here except for “Mullholland Drive” and “My Beautiful Laundrette”. I basically know nothing of the genre of “queer cinema”, maybe because I consciously try to separate myself from it. I’m generally not thrilled by how I see gay/lesbian/transgender characters portrayed, but maybe I’ll change my mind. Or maybe it’s the automatic association with camp, which is not always my thing. Is there a particular place to start? Todd Haynes maybe? I know the Crying Game and Hedwig are both supposed to be good, at least that’s what friends have told me.
these are subject to change with subsequent viewings
L’avventura 8/10
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 7.5/10 (it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller 9/10
La Notte 6/10
I’m in basically the same position you are – have an idea of the kind of things I want to do but not a clear direction of how it should be filmed, and I feel that what I do may end up just aping my favorite directors because I lack the voice to say something particularly interesting or original. But that sort of disease of super self-consciousness seems to afflict almost every artist, even the great ones (probably moreso with the great ones). So I feel like I’m certainly not alone.
“Do you just start making films and decide what you like and what you don’t? Do we think the greats find a style in what they like to see, or in what practice feels good?”
I have very limited experience with filmmaking so far, but I think it must be some combination of all of the things you listed. Doing what you’re compelled by, or what feels interesting and good to you is obviously how you come up with your own voice. Maybe some people can move simply by an intuitive force guiding them, without giving it any conscious thought. But most of us don’t work that way. There’s nothing wrong with lifting some ideas and scenes from your favorite films, if only to discover what you like so much about them and to get a better understanding of how things work.
In my limited experience, I’ve found that you have to start throwing different things at the wall and hope they stick before you can reach the point of arriving at your own voice. Especially with the relative ease of creating something now vs. how it used to be, there’s really no reason not to try several different things out. Anything you’ve worked on can be a learning experience, no matter how minor or bad it might seem. Obviously you should strive to make the best movie you can make with what you have, but don’t try be overly analytical about it. As in, you should always be asking yourself what sort of feelings you want to evoke in the audience and what you’re setting them up for with your story. That’s just part of the process – to find what you’re communicating and how you should best express that in images/sounds. But don’t try to move outside the world of your film to analyze if what you’re doing is “good” or “bad” in the context of other things. That doesn’t accomplish anything.
anyway, that’s all in very limited experience and parts are semi-regurgitated from advice I’ve been given that I have yet to live out in practice. I think it’s right, though. Even the most brilliant filmmakers started somewhere. Anyway, I wish you luck.
Edited to add that the last few sentences of Tobias’s post are all you really need to know.
Is this for a particular purpose? I’m interested by threads like this, but picking anything seems so aimlessly subjective. It seems like either a list of canonical classics (stuff that pushes the limits of the medium) or your top 10 films (stuff that you most like to take from films). Not that there’s anything wrong with either, it just seems a little silly.
Kubrick is an interesting choice, but he definitely has one very distinctive style in the midst of different genres. The best way to get an all-encompassing sample would probably be just to take one highly praised film each from a mix of highly-regarded directors with divergent styles.
I’ve seen a fair number of disturbing films, but they usually don’t stay with me for too long after the initial scariness. One huge exception is Resnais’s “Night and Fog”, because the images from it are real. I felt upset that I even watched it all after I saw it, but now I’m understand a little more why it was necessary.
The Thin Red Line: 8.5/10 (great film but I didn’t connect with it as strongly as other people probably do. probably will take another viewing)
Wild Strawberries: 9/10 (this is the second time I’ve seen it, still like it very much)
Cries and Whispers: 11/10 (wow.)
good call on The Fearless Freaks, Cory. Even if I don’t like the Lips much any more, from A Priest Driven Ambulance through The Soft Bulletin they’re one of my favorite bands of all time.
I’m a Bergman lover and I appreciate the art of the zone blitz. I used to be a big fan of football, not as much anymore (though I still watch games from time to time). I really hate the Steelers, so I was upset at the result of this game. The Cardinals probably should have won, but they were also lucky to get back ahead in the first place. It was definitely a good game, anyway.
I honestly don’t know. Maybe a disney film? I have memories of seeing Aladdin, but I might have also seen Beauty and the Beast before that. I would’ve been 4 or 5 then. I had a big attachment to disney films (up until I got to the point where I decided that they were “stupid”), but so did everybody else at the time. The theater I saw was in this great location downtown (in a small-to-medium sized central ohio town) and it only had one screen. It was brick, and had this nice alcove in front. Now, that theater is a sort of interesting looking but otherwise nondescript bank. And the downtown is virtually nonexistent, and there’s a megaplex that looks like a gigantic box plopped in the middle of a bunch of fields around a bunch of identical-housing developments outside of town because it was probably cheaper. It looks like it was built out of cardboard. And it always plays the shittiest, most conservatively and crassly picked blockbusters, despite having a bunch of different screens. I’m glad I’m not there anymore.
I don’t walk out of films – I don’t want to be that person. There’s something about the act of doing it that I really don’t like. If I’m gonna subject myself to a movie in the first place, I don’t want to give up on it, even if I start to space out or get disgusted or whatever. But I generally try not to see films that I know I’m not gonna like.
The times that I’m really tempted to walk out are when I’m with friends and seeing something I didn’t really want to see in the first place. And I’d rather not just leave them there, so I stay and try to pull a MST3K. It’s probably annoying as hell, but no one should be enjoying “Yes Man” anyway.
This is where my desire to delve only shallowly into most directors’ works becomes hilariously apparent. The last couple lists are subject to major change.
TARKOVSKY
1. The Mirror
2. Andrei Rublev
3. Stalker
BERGMAN
1. Cries and Whispers
2. Persona
3. Wild Strawberries
LYNCH
1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Eraserhead
3. Blue Velvet
ALTMAN
1. Nashville
2. The Long Goodbye
3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Pokemon has absolutely nothing to do with Spirited Away beyond being Japanese and animated. It’s a good film, as are the other couple Miyazaki films I’ve seen (Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle).
I’m not entirely sure what I’d pick, given that most really good films are downers. I think “Wild Strawberries” would probably be a good choice given the subject matter. But “8 1/2” I like so much that it might be the one. Both of those have endings that would leave me feeling like I’m ready to go.
I sort of agree with The Corduroy Suit here too. I think visually Kubrick is an amazing director and many of his films (at least the ones I’ve seen…I haven’t seen all of them) are absolutely transfixing. I also don’t find them too slow. But content-wise, I find many of Kubrick’s films incredibly cold, inhumane, and apathetic to the events actually happening on camera beyond their immediate visual impact on the shot. Everything seems very modern and threatening; it’s so structured and rigidly planned and executed in a way that’s admirable, but also a little bit too much. Someone like Tarkovsky, who is similar in his level of visual expertise, has a lot of gentleness within his shots. He plays much further into the underlying humanity of both his characters and his landscapes (which often become their own sort of characters), and he doesn’t attempt to make things as rigidly organized (though just as much care is put into his de-organization).
This is not to insult Kubrick’s visual ability – like I said before, it’s virtually unparalleled. And it’s not to say that he doesn’t have films that really don’t fit in this category I described. But still… beneath the often flawless exterior, I start to see cracks emerge. I’m not a cold person, and all this indifference to humanity starts to really become a problem for me. It starts to feel contrived and irritating. As if Kubrick is unable to move beyond his carefully planned visuals. I don’t know, it’s hard to say. Perhaps I’m misreading something.
My dad basically really likes almost any movie made before 1950, “classics” (things like the Godfather/Dr. Strangelove/war movies) and things with Paul Newman in them. My dad objects to anything “weird”, usually pointing out the obvious about how something is weird and he doesn’t like it. “weird” is usually a synonym for “good” with me as a result.
My mom likes a pretty wide variety of things, and will pretty much watch anything that isn’t too disturbing or violent. I’ve shown her some Tarkovsky, partially because she’s in seminary school and she’s enjoyed it.
how long do we have before we need to post a list? I made an unoffical one in another thread but I want to see many more films before I feel completely comfortable with making one for voting.
what film or films may have made you into the fan/fanatic you are over 3 years ago
“Mirror” by Andrei Tarkovsky. I chose to do a project about it for a Russian film class (the first film class I took…I had basically no familiarity with art films before that point) because someone I knew recommended it. I was totally baffled at first but after watching it several times, I begun to realize the kinds of things film is capable of that no other art is.
There are several I’ve seen since then that have been just as moving, but those have only affirmed what Mirror showed me for the first time.
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Russian Film over 3 years ago
“The Cranes are Flying” and “I Am Cuba”, both by Kalatozov, are pretty amazing (I’ve heard “The Letter Never Sent” is great too, but never seen it). In the silent film realm, Pudovkin’s “Mother” is supposed to be good, and “Earth” by Dovzhenko stuck out to me (I know Tarkovsky was a fan of his work in general). “Russian Ark” is another obvious one.
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GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY over 3 years ago
The library at my college is incredibly massive in terms of film selection. Everything criterion has released is in it, not to mention a very very huge variety of other films.
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Do you prefer to watch films alone or with friends? over 3 years ago
I like to watch films alone the first time, then often with friends the second time (especially if it’s one I like a lot or feel that it’s special in some way). There are some exceptions to this – I’m more willing to watch english language films with other people, for example. And some of my friends are good at paying attention to what’s on the screen and not asking about/commenting on every single thing that happens, so I’m more willing to see things for the first time with them
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I am faced with a dilemma over 3 years ago
The Seventh Seal is good and all, but there are so many better and less goofy Bergman movies out there. I would just rent it so you’ve seen it and then buy the other two.
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What's your Top 10? over 3 years ago
I had no idea so many people liked Mulholland Drive or The Mirror that much. I’m always watching and rewatching films, so the list is very subject to change. The more I see films, the more the list of films that I need to rewatch to appreciate increases. The latest one I’m on the fence about is L’avventura. I love Monica Vitti’s character and I love the visuals, and I’m surprised at the film having a lot more heart than I thought it would given that I saw Blow Up before. But I still have lots of reservations about it. It may very well turn into one of my favorite films after a second or third viewing, though. Anyway, here’s my list:
1. Mulholland Drive (Lynch) – It just devastates me, both times I’ve seen it. I expected this semi-cheesy but fascinating Twin Peaks-ish narrative from the beginning but there were little twinges of weirdness that suggested something else – that first scene in the diner with the two guys talking to each other and it’s blindingly bright and the camera is trying to do this over the shoulder dialogue thing except it seems like it’s just going to float off into the air. And then things start getting more and more sinister and you have these David Lynch-isms like the cowboy saying cryptic things sort of fall apart and give way to something much deeper and more profoundly upsetting. The scene towards the end where Camilla invites Diane to the director’s house taps into a lot of things for me. It’s hard to explain it. I’ve seen the film twice, and I will wait to see it a third time until I’m with someone special.
2. The Mirror (Tarkovsky) – I’ve seen this film so many times. It’s really hard for me to put into words why it has affected me so much – it might have something to do with the way the guy films nature. It’s serene and terrifying at the same time. Or that this film covers such a large gamut of events and emotions in just over 100 minutes. The word genius should be used sparingly, but Tarkovsky is a full-blown genius.
3. 8 1/2 (Fellini) – I’ve seen this three times, two with friends. It’s just a great testament to a virtuosic filmmaker – everything is so alive and fun and hyperreal. It’s also one of those films that speaks towards the necessities of cinema and the need to favor one’s own expression over silence.
4. Persona (Bergman) – I’m currently reading over the Sontag essay about this film because it’s damn confusing. From a bare emotional response that I got after seeing it, what I did see terrified and disturbed me deeply in a way that no other film has ever done.
5. Videodrome (Cronenberg) – Sometimes when I’m watching a film, especially for the first time, I say to myself “gee I wish they would push this a little bit farther”. And then I saw this film. It’s so gloriously absorbed into its own weirdness in a way that I find extremely satisfying. I don’t even want to begin trying to interpret why I do.
6. Nashville (Altman) – This is a long movie. It’s 150 minutes but seems so much longer because of the endless characters and mini-storylines going on. And then those threads come together into this shocking and strangely affecting climax.
7. Network (Lumet) – A well-filmed movie with an immaculate script that has unfortunately only increased in relevance over the years.
8. The Conversation (Copolla) – I’m not a big Godfather fan, but this film really did it for me. The couple scenes in the hotel room – with the toilet and with the bloody handprint are some of the most disturbing I’ve ever seen. The point that you can analyze things on a very scientific and objective level and still miss the obvious is also a very important one.
9. Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky) – One of the few films I feel no reservations about calling an epic. Is it just me or is the Criterion release a not-so-good quality? It must have to do with the circumstances surrounding the Soviet film industry and the film’s many different cuts, which is a shame.
10. Repulsion (Polanski) – I hate it when people try to say that the main character is simply sexually “repressed” and imagining the stuff she does out of some misplaced desire, instead of out of some more intense psychological fear. Not that it should be read as a case study of a psychological disorder. One of the interesting things about this film is how often the “reality” of the film coincides with the character’s psychological descent – she seems to have some justification in her paranoia, given the amount of guys leering over her.
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Movies Not On Criterion (& therefore, not on TheAuteurs) over 3 years ago
this is just for stuff that we think should be added onto this site, not for actual criterion release, correct?
The Conversation (there’s an avatar for it, after all)
The Long Goodbye
Nostalghia
Stroszek
Last Year at Marienbad
The Tenant
Belle de jour
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What films do you always catch shit for for not liking? over 3 years ago
Irreversible. Yeah, bad stuff happens to people who don’t deserve it, no shit, that’s something it takes about two seconds for anyone with a brain to realize. I admit I like the way it was filmed, and I like that very last part of it that has the Beethoven playing over it, and the concept of going backwards was interesting. Still, I don’t need to see a 10-minute rape scene, or endless queasy scenes of lots of guys jacking off, or that guy getting his face bashed in with a fire extinguisher. Or at least, I’d rather not have those be the complete focus of the film. It’s really seemed to be focused on pure sensationalism that gets off on how far it can go rather than saying anything that moves beyond a really elementary point about people being bad and events getting out of control. There’s just something, beyond even the violence and everything else, that I really loathe about this film.
Funny Games. I want to punch Haneke in the face after seeing that (though I like Cache). Any film that focuses on thwarting viewer expectations at the expense of saying anything interesting or insightful is not a film I have any interest in seeing.
Right on to anyone who said The Dark Knight. fuck that film. It’s a crassly designed and marketed blockbuster with a couple really good performances, that’s it. Any sort of point this film has is buried under its constant ADD-ish need to always have something happening in the plot.
Boondock Saints was dumb aside from Willem Dafoe. I don’t appreciate the idea that mass killing of “bad” people is justified. It’s such a unrealistic portrait of the universe.
Lars and the Real Girl was a boring and unmemorable feel-good “quirky” indie movie. The same applies to Little Miss Sunshine for me, though that was at least a bit more interesting.
Weekend by Godard I did not like. I appreciate parts of it and the idea of it, but I don’t appreciate it when I feel that films are veering off into lazy nihilism. Please give me something beyond “I am the director and I just fucked with you, haha!” I like Breathless and other bits of Godard I’ve seen, though, so I’m going to give him more of a chance.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy was very watchable and everything, but I’ve never been much of a fan of the story in general.
I have mixed feelings about Boogie Nights by P.T. Anderson. I loved the cast and the way it was filmed, but didn’t like how it went on and on and on and time it spends on different characters meeting different fates was kind of strange to me. Maybe I just didn’t relate to it or connect with the people in it very much.
Chinatown is a movie I really, really like. And the ending is really memorable, and I can’t imagine how else it would end, but I still don’t like it. Maybe it’s because I don’t necessarily think that’s the final word? Maybe I just don’t like it when something tries to say “bad stuff happens to people who don’t deserve it” and then just leaves it at that. Life is more complex than that.
Also, on the subject of Polanski (strange because I’m a huge fan of some of his other films), Knife in the Water did basically nothing for me.
There are others, I’m sure. I try to give a lot of different films a chance, but I often surprise and confuse people by my visceral reactions of disliking something.
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Wide Angle Lens over 3 years ago
I think he probably means a fisheye lens.
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Favourite Movie About Music. over 3 years ago
It’s fictional and a comedy, but This is Spinal Tap is still one of my favorite films about rock music. I like Gimme Shelter and the Devil and Daniel Johnston a lot too. Been wanting to see Jandek on Corwood and 30 Century Man, both of which are supposed to be good.
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Gay and Lesbian Cinema over 3 years ago
I’ve not seen really any of the films mentioned here except for “Mullholland Drive” and “My Beautiful Laundrette”. I basically know nothing of the genre of “queer cinema”, maybe because I consciously try to separate myself from it. I’m generally not thrilled by how I see gay/lesbian/transgender characters portrayed, but maybe I’ll change my mind. Or maybe it’s the automatic association with camp, which is not always my thing. Is there a particular place to start? Todd Haynes maybe? I know the Crying Game and Hedwig are both supposed to be good, at least that’s what friends have told me.
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
these are subject to change with subsequent viewings
L’avventura 8/10
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 7.5/10 (it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller 9/10
La Notte 6/10
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The Problem of Appreciation over 3 years ago
I’m in basically the same position you are – have an idea of the kind of things I want to do but not a clear direction of how it should be filmed, and I feel that what I do may end up just aping my favorite directors because I lack the voice to say something particularly interesting or original. But that sort of disease of super self-consciousness seems to afflict almost every artist, even the great ones (probably moreso with the great ones). So I feel like I’m certainly not alone.
“Do you just start making films and decide what you like and what you don’t? Do we think the greats find a style in what they like to see, or in what practice feels good?”
I have very limited experience with filmmaking so far, but I think it must be some combination of all of the things you listed. Doing what you’re compelled by, or what feels interesting and good to you is obviously how you come up with your own voice. Maybe some people can move simply by an intuitive force guiding them, without giving it any conscious thought. But most of us don’t work that way. There’s nothing wrong with lifting some ideas and scenes from your favorite films, if only to discover what you like so much about them and to get a better understanding of how things work.
In my limited experience, I’ve found that you have to start throwing different things at the wall and hope they stick before you can reach the point of arriving at your own voice. Especially with the relative ease of creating something now vs. how it used to be, there’s really no reason not to try several different things out. Anything you’ve worked on can be a learning experience, no matter how minor or bad it might seem. Obviously you should strive to make the best movie you can make with what you have, but don’t try be overly analytical about it. As in, you should always be asking yourself what sort of feelings you want to evoke in the audience and what you’re setting them up for with your story. That’s just part of the process – to find what you’re communicating and how you should best express that in images/sounds. But don’t try to move outside the world of your film to analyze if what you’re doing is “good” or “bad” in the context of other things. That doesn’t accomplish anything.
anyway, that’s all in very limited experience and parts are semi-regurgitated from advice I’ve been given that I have yet to live out in practice. I think it’s right, though. Even the most brilliant filmmakers started somewhere. Anyway, I wish you luck.
Edited to add that the last few sentences of Tobias’s post are all you really need to know.
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10 films to give a taste of what film has to give over 3 years ago
Is this for a particular purpose? I’m interested by threads like this, but picking anything seems so aimlessly subjective. It seems like either a list of canonical classics (stuff that pushes the limits of the medium) or your top 10 films (stuff that you most like to take from films). Not that there’s anything wrong with either, it just seems a little silly.
Kubrick is an interesting choice, but he definitely has one very distinctive style in the midst of different genres. The best way to get an all-encompassing sample would probably be just to take one highly praised film each from a mix of highly-regarded directors with divergent styles.
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The scariest or most disturbing film you have EVER seen. over 3 years ago
I’ve seen a fair number of disturbing films, but they usually don’t stay with me for too long after the initial scariness. One huge exception is Resnais’s “Night and Fog”, because the images from it are real. I felt upset that I even watched it all after I saw it, but now I’m understand a little more why it was necessary.
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
The Thin Red Line: 8.5/10 (great film but I didn’t connect with it as strongly as other people probably do. probably will take another viewing)
Wild Strawberries: 9/10 (this is the second time I’ve seen it, still like it very much)
Cries and Whispers: 11/10 (wow.)
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Favourite Movie About Music. over 3 years ago
good call on The Fearless Freaks, Cory. Even if I don’t like the Lips much any more, from A Priest Driven Ambulance through The Soft Bulletin they’re one of my favorite bands of all time.
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I'm curious, do auteurs watch the Super Bowl? over 3 years ago
I’m a Bergman lover and I appreciate the art of the zone blitz. I used to be a big fan of football, not as much anymore (though I still watch games from time to time). I really hate the Steelers, so I was upset at the result of this game. The Cardinals probably should have won, but they were also lucky to get back ahead in the first place. It was definitely a good game, anyway.
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WHAT WAS THE FIRST FILM YOU EVER SAW, IN A THEATRE? over 3 years ago
I honestly don’t know. Maybe a disney film? I have memories of seeing Aladdin, but I might have also seen Beauty and the Beast before that. I would’ve been 4 or 5 then. I had a big attachment to disney films (up until I got to the point where I decided that they were “stupid”), but so did everybody else at the time. The theater I saw was in this great location downtown (in a small-to-medium sized central ohio town) and it only had one screen. It was brick, and had this nice alcove in front. Now, that theater is a sort of interesting looking but otherwise nondescript bank. And the downtown is virtually nonexistent, and there’s a megaplex that looks like a gigantic box plopped in the middle of a bunch of fields around a bunch of identical-housing developments outside of town because it was probably cheaper. It looks like it was built out of cardboard. And it always plays the shittiest, most conservatively and crassly picked blockbusters, despite having a bunch of different screens. I’m glad I’m not there anymore.
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What films have you walked out on and why ? over 3 years ago
I don’t walk out of films – I don’t want to be that person. There’s something about the act of doing it that I really don’t like. If I’m gonna subject myself to a movie in the first place, I don’t want to give up on it, even if I start to space out or get disgusted or whatever. But I generally try not to see films that I know I’m not gonna like.
The times that I’m really tempted to walk out are when I’m with friends and seeing something I didn’t really want to see in the first place. And I’d rather not just leave them there, so I stay and try to pull a MST3K. It’s probably annoying as hell, but no one should be enjoying “Yes Man” anyway.
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The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago
I’d like to register too, if possible.
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3 Favourite Movies From 5 Favourite Directors over 3 years ago
This is where my desire to delve only shallowly into most directors’ works becomes hilariously apparent. The last couple lists are subject to major change.
TARKOVSKY
1. The Mirror
2. Andrei Rublev
3. Stalker
BERGMAN
1. Cries and Whispers
2. Persona
3. Wild Strawberries
LYNCH
1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Eraserhead
3. Blue Velvet
ALTMAN
1. Nashville
2. The Long Goodbye
3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
CRONENBERG
1. Videodrome
2. The Fly
3. Crash
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Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
21, finishing a film major at a liberal arts college.
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Answer This Awesome Question I Am About to Ask over 3 years ago
Pokemon has absolutely nothing to do with Spirited Away beyond being Japanese and animated. It’s a good film, as are the other couple Miyazaki films I’ve seen (Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle).
I’m not entirely sure what I’d pick, given that most really good films are downers. I think “Wild Strawberries” would probably be a good choice given the subject matter. But “8 1/2” I like so much that it might be the one. Both of those have endings that would leave me feeling like I’m ready to go.
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Answer This Awesome Question I Am About to Ask over 3 years ago
Shotzi: when I’m ready to die I’ll give you a call.
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Meaningless Thread (Absmurdity) over 3 years ago
Lost Rolling Stones song: Cum Talkin’ Lady
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Answer This Awesome Question I Am About to Ask over 3 years ago
Shotzi: no plans on ending my life any time soon, so you might have to wait a little while to see 8 1/2.
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Who's better than Stanley Kubrick? over 3 years ago
I sort of agree with The Corduroy Suit here too. I think visually Kubrick is an amazing director and many of his films (at least the ones I’ve seen…I haven’t seen all of them) are absolutely transfixing. I also don’t find them too slow. But content-wise, I find many of Kubrick’s films incredibly cold, inhumane, and apathetic to the events actually happening on camera beyond their immediate visual impact on the shot. Everything seems very modern and threatening; it’s so structured and rigidly planned and executed in a way that’s admirable, but also a little bit too much. Someone like Tarkovsky, who is similar in his level of visual expertise, has a lot of gentleness within his shots. He plays much further into the underlying humanity of both his characters and his landscapes (which often become their own sort of characters), and he doesn’t attempt to make things as rigidly organized (though just as much care is put into his de-organization).
This is not to insult Kubrick’s visual ability – like I said before, it’s virtually unparalleled. And it’s not to say that he doesn’t have films that really don’t fit in this category I described. But still… beneath the often flawless exterior, I start to see cracks emerge. I’m not a cold person, and all this indifference to humanity starts to really become a problem for me. It starts to feel contrived and irritating. As if Kubrick is unable to move beyond his carefully planned visuals. I don’t know, it’s hard to say. Perhaps I’m misreading something.
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Movies your parents like over 3 years ago
My dad basically really likes almost any movie made before 1950, “classics” (things like the Godfather/Dr. Strangelove/war movies) and things with Paul Newman in them. My dad objects to anything “weird”, usually pointing out the obvious about how something is weird and he doesn’t like it. “weird” is usually a synonym for “good” with me as a result.
My mom likes a pretty wide variety of things, and will pretty much watch anything that isn’t too disturbing or violent. I’ve shown her some Tarkovsky, partially because she’s in seminary school and she’s enjoyed it.
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Discussion of The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" over 3 years ago
how long do we have before we need to post a list? I made an unoffical one in another thread but I want to see many more films before I feel completely comfortable with making one for voting.
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