the film fifty
1. persona :
an erotic masterpiece (erotic of sorts)... ingmar bergman keeps the film artful throughout... from the beginning montage, to the middle of the film splice, to the end re-focus with the little boy... bibi andersson turns in a beautiful performance as the nurse... art-house with a story line (of sorts)... an absolute stunningly beautiful film that is so in both a classic and modern sense... a rare attribute to say the least... a psychological bender with an art-house style... a true master-piece...
2. citizen kane :
probably the most innovative movie ever made... introduced and/or honed virtually every film trick known today... this film, with the exception of it's story line, would easily be considered an art-house film if it were released today... or another 5 to 10 years from today... it is truly sad to think that if only orson welles could have been a young film-maker today as opposed to his time... he would have easily left many of the young makers thought as innovative today, such as quintin taratino, far in his dust... a true original never allowed to be... was welles...
3. eraserhead :
written and directed by david lynch, the most thoroughly original american film-maker to date in cinematic history (o.k. maybe that's taking it a bit too far... moviemaker, at least)... this is an art-house classic if there ever was one... so brilliantly horrifying and at a snails pace and shot in black and white, to boot... the ultimate film to alienate all of hollywood... oddly enough, it was the reason he had the hollywood pearly white gates opened for him which is probably the strangest thing about this film... own it, understand it, be it... i am eraserhead... you are eraserhead... as one...
4. alphaville :
my personal favorite philosophy based film... a hard-boiled, gum-shoe, film noir philosophical film at that... jean-luc godard, as usual, masterfully came through with a work of sheer artistry on little resources to work with... an intellectually enjoyable film/movie...
5. prospero's books :
this is the most visually stunning, over-stimulating, film i have ever had the priviledge to bear witness to... the sort of film that every film-maker and/or enthusiast should have in their collection without question... the film consists of so much stimuli that it is nearing a headache pitch... natural born killers x 5 = prospero's books... brilliantly directed by peter greenaway... adapted from william shakespeare's 'the tempest'... and doused by john gielgud's voice (in the class of william s. burroughs and ken nordine)...
6. the silence :
ingmar bergman delivers at such a high level from time to time... 'the silence' was the precursor to the masterpiece 'persona' by three years... this film is a sort of mini-masterpiece for ingmar... i am quite a bit more found about this film than many of the "critics"... after all, it has all the important elements... such as : isolation, a dense atmosphere, little dialogue (also, an unkown language thrown in for good measure)... an art-film-esque melodrama with just enough playfullness to make it bitter-sweet... 'the silence' hits upon the big three bergmanian themes : desire, spiritual search, obsession...
7. mirror :
a lovely film that weaves the filmmaker andrei tarkovsky's autobio-experiences with political essays (stuffed with stock-footage)... nice cinematography and exquisitely woven together story and film, in general... this is a filmmaker's film... wonderful... it is of the 'persona' caliber... 'mirror' slashes back and forth between personal to political essays creating a complex film... a heavy-weight in cinematic art...
the epic... you know the story... beautifully epic... a nice lack of dialogue... the greatest film-score appropriation...
9. europa (zentropa) :
miraculous film by lars von trier... masterful in its many, many lovely textures (that include everything AND the kitchen sink)... lush black & white, b/w with strong color seeping in (most notably the blood leaking from the bathroom), front and back projections, an opening shot of close-up rail-road tracks (accompanied by the voice master max von sydow)... after the very first minute of this film, i knew that 'zentropa' was going to be a ride... also, that lars had much talents as a maker... as it turns out... i was right... lars is one of only a handful of modern, young, filmmakers that are in the genius class... possibly the gen-x bergman...
10. naked :
'naked' is a raw intellectual dialogue film by the naturalist master mike leigh... it has a masterful performance by david thewlis and an appropriate strong score... this film is harsh, brutal, even... no hollywood gimmicks here (such as un-realistic violence to get the brutality across)... one of, if not the most, intellectually brutal films created... brutal is the key here... 'naked', an absolutely perfect title for this nerve...
11. drowning by numbers :
a great new fascination of mine... an amazingly beautiful film by the wonderful film/artist peter greenaway... murderous women with an ironic twist = greenaway film... peter delivers, once again, with lovely depictions of medieval / venus sized naked women... which is all too rare in the era of the waif (1960-2000)... peter uses a high production style (which is best suited for peter's visions) and high artistic ideas... an abstract, yet, concrete british film... a greenaway masterpiece...
12. husbands and wives :
one of the most violent films ever... yes, i wrote VIOLENT... the subject matter, the hand-held cameras, the jump-cuts, the thunder-storm, etc... an intellectually violent film, not of the physical variety that is oh so over-used in cinema like 'pulp fiction', 'godfather', 'mean streets', 'clockwork orange', etc... intellectual violence at an extreme... a great interlude of sorts for woody allen... a complete surprise coming straight after the pathetically awful movie 'shadows and fog' that woody would come back with (for my money) his greatest achievement... though woody has done this balancing act before (and hopefully will again soon... with such bad work recently)... 'husbands and wives' proves to be his most serious and challenging film to date... this is no 'annie hall'... thank you...
13. repulsion :
one of the most pleasant surprises for me in years... i knew nothing of this film... saw it in the bargain bin of a video store for sale... took it home, popped it in, laughed, cried, rejoiced... not exactly, but, this film really is on my good side... very effective in portraying feminine isolation (to the point of madness)... roman polanski directed this gem... and catherine deneuve is the sweet young woman (a deneuve looking quite homely) drawn to isolated induced madness...
14. smoke :
easily the highest leveled film in the past few years... head and shoulders above the tarantino's... 'smoke' is sort of an american mike leigh film (in that it is very natural and dialogue dominated and that it is quite intelligent)... it was actually directed by wayne wang who directs this one with the masterful ease of an experienced maker... i hope to see more from this talent displayed in independent form (as opposed to 'the joy luck club' sugar coated hollywood style) as wayne seems at home with a more independent form... (not to mention my all-time favorite closing credits sequence... a must see, if only for that)
15. thirty-two short films about glen gould :
another successful experiment in narrative (another that can be found on my list, that is)... this is a film about the classical pianist glen gould who eventually became a sort o.c.d. and a bona fide hermit in his later (but, still relatively young) days... this is a shut-in classic...a mad-scientist-esque art film about an intellectual... an impressive array of expressions on the man glen gould... a must see for filmmaker's, classical musician's, intellectual's, film lover's, drug enthusiast's and anyone who respects quality... (special thanks to PBS for airing this film commercial free giving me the opportunity to record it)
16. stalker :
get's my vote as an essential for cinematographer's (a meditation on zoom's and panning)... amazingly beautiful... a visual masterpiece... from the opening 1 minute slow zoom into the tour-guide's bedroom, you know your in for something special (of some sort at least)... it brings out the small child in the viewer with it's natural adventure feel to it... with rough terrain and much water... a beautiful, very long and winding, shot of a stream/creek while the three men sleep... this is a spielberg special with absolutely no special effects (an intellectual 'indiana jones')... there isn't very much dialogue and the film is a sprawling 161 minutes long... but, again it is beautiful to watch (much like a painting in a museum)... this film is not for the average film goer... it is a creation to behold by maker's and student's and buff's though... it is probably viewed as extremely boring otherwise... (also, i really dig the crying scene by the tour guide's wife at about the 12 minute mark... it's one of my favorite crying scenes)
17. barton fink :
one of my favorite films about the artistic process... especially about hitting THE WALL (an artistic abyss of no ideas)... john turturro has the facial expressions to pull it off visually... john goodman does a nice job as the likeable "villain"... the coen brothers are one of the most talented filmmakers around on many levels... they pull through a technically clean film here; as opposed to blood simple, raising arizona, fargo (technically implying neither good nor bad... just a high know-how filming with a hollywood financial backing)... this film is successful on many levels...
18. short cuts :
characters abound can be found here... short segments based on several short stories by raymond carver... directed by robert altman, straight from the heels of 'the player' and he carries that heightened sense of filmmaking with him... even taking it to a higher level... altman is at a masterful place with this three hour epic of a film... a rare american film by a sometimes rare american filmmaker... a successful experiment in narrative, possibly a bit too much for the hollywood-ites, but lovely for the rest of us...
19. blue velvet :
one of the greatest singular acting performances ever captured on film in dennis hopper... also with isabella rossellini giving a very fine performance as well... a beautiful take on a typical hollywood scheme... violence and mafioso activity... the difference being, with david lynch at the helm, it is artistic enough to keep it far from the doldrums that the other similar movies fall in... also, contains the greatest use of a rock song in cinema history with dennis hopper serenading (sort of) kyle maclachlan to the tune of roy orbison's 'in dreams' with a heavy-set woman dancing on the top of his car... beautiful...
20. psycho :
my personal favorite alfred hitchcock (the director) film... most film-ites go for a more classic hitchcock feel, as opposed to a more moderned, smug, almost arty alfred here in 'psycho'... the performances are more to my likeing as opposed to the jimmy stewart type of fifties feel of acting (too much gloss)... also, i very much like the fact that the film is set up with janet leigh as the star and then she is knocked-off mid-way through the film... that kind of twist just doesn't happen these days...
21. barfly :
mickey rourke where art thou... is my battle cry here... an amazing over-the-top performance is turned in by mickey... most speak of robert deniro's 'raging bull' weight gain and boxing shape performance... but, wow has mickey transformed here... rourke gets my vote... as a charles bukowski reader, 'barfly' stays wonderfully close to bringing charles' writing to life (as if it really needed to be) and is beautiful at not taking the easy hollywood cliche route out by having some sort of major drama to lay the film to rest (like in 'leaving las vegas' and other addict movies out there projected always as a tragedy)... this film simply gives a few days in the life of... a talented drunk...
22. poison :
three films with one common denominator... you decide( i focus on alienation)... each individual film has a very distinct atmosphere to them (a rarity)... one a black and white sci-fi from the 50's... another a 80's documentary... and the other, a slick hollywood feel... all shot to perfection... 'poison' is a true independent classic directed by todd haynes... a film to be studied by filmmakers to be...
23. sweetie :
co-written and directed by jane campion... 'sweetie' is in the class of an 'eraserhead' with it's absolute originality... a story about destiny... about vegetation... about... insane sister's... the ending is melodramatic, but fitting... if only jane would delve into the waters of the beautifully strange again... woe is me... *also, if you can get a hold of her short-films, do... (maya deren would be proud)
24. my own private idaho :
a true modern independent classic (along with 'drugstore cowboy')... written and directed by gus van sant... starring the late-great river phoenix and the (not-so) late (not so) great keanu reeves... reeves actually finally holds his own here (never again)... river, as usual, turns in an A performance (one of the few actors that i would have actually pushed to work with)... '...idaho' has many taboo subjects creating a tension to the art-house flair causing this flair to pop out nicely like a sore thumb... with godard-esque nudes to boot...
25. the accidental tourist :
lawrence kasdan's quiet masterpiece... lead by probably the greatest "quiet" actor of all-times, william hurt... a tale of lost marriage, lost child, lost direction... occasional humor, in particular, the living room telephone scene... lawrence went for a home-run with 'grand canyon' but, ended up with a triple... he hit one with 'the accidental tourist'...
26. vanya on 42nd street :
sort of the after-math from 'my dinner with andre'... a lovely, smart and smug dialogue-dominated drama by louis malle... if you are in the mood for much, much, much (relatively intelligent) dialogue, or if you are feeling lonely, pop this bad-boy in... directed by the late louis malle...
27. brazil :
the ultimate hollywood surrealist masterpiece... by the hollywood surrealist director terry gilliam... 'brazil' is a mindblowing experience of epic proportions... one of the only films that actually put the hollywood elements to good use... huge sets, big money, truely larger than life... everything that hollywood is suppose to be... by the master, mr. gilliam...
28. david holzman's diary :
so real that it's planned... a nice experiment in cinematography more than anything else... filmed for a reported $2,500... a true 16mm special... gotta love that...
29. sex, lies, and videotape :
is the type of film i can watch numerous times without loosing any interest because of it's easy going approach as a film... it doesn't really ask much from it's viewers and is relatively easy to swollen... james spader's nice acting job has something to do with that... also, andie macdowell (who is a surprisingly solid actor at times... come on, admit it) turns in a near perfect clipped job as well... the film has only one very tiny scene, that stands out in my mind, that should have been left on the cutting room floor (when macdowell is walking outside to talk to her sister who is working at the bar... at about the 53 minute mark)... none the less, it is a modern independent classic...
30. slacker :
a successful experiment with narrative... much of the films content is of a socialist nature (fine by me) and there are many interesting points made throughout... subject matter that most do not care and/or have the courage to cover in a film... i am not sure if it has anything to do with richard linklater's (the writer/director) views or not... but, the film brings about many points... it is wonderful to see a film like this having been made...
31. taxi driver :
the gritty 70's taxi cab film about alienation... i have a soft spot for alienation (as you may have noticed throughout this list)... written by paul schrader (based partially on his bio-life observation as a driver) and directed by the american iconclastic martin scorsese... 'taxi driver' is a meditation on extreme alienation... eventually driving 'travis' (robert deniro) over the brink and over into the waters of violence... some nice cinematography can be found here as well (my favorite is the scene with the burning flowers in the sink)... also, little mentioned is the nice (militant) score...
32. crumb :
my personal favorite documentary of all-time... it is on robert crumb the cartoonist... but, is more than that... it is also about his two brother's charles and max (actually, they are more interesting)... i am not, at all, a fan of crumb's work... none the less, i thoroughly enjoyed this film... again, the film's subject delves into alienation (only this time it is actual/factual)... 'crumb' is mostly dark in tone, but occasionally dips in with humor... the mother's shoe situation, the snubbing of an autograph seeker, the insulting to the camera about movers being oaf's... but again, this is a dark documentary... well worth the see...
33. trust :
hal hartley's personal masterpiece... written and directed by a filmmaker's filmmaker... a story wrapped around a shallow female teenage central character forced to take life and herself more seriously (adrienne shelly) and a sociopathic angst ridden twenty-something male lead with a talent for electronics (martin donovan)... they are thrown in together and out of necessity are forced to trust...
34. down by law :
an interesting take on a prison film (unlike any other of it's genre)... written and directed by jim jarmusch (a true independent filmmaker's filmmaker)... shot in black and white... starring tom waits (the musician), john lurie (the musician) and roberto benigni... i enjoy this film on two levels, indy classic (many would replace 'down by law' with jim's film 'stranger than paradise') and one of my favorite comedies... but then again, i may be jaded being that tom waits is one of my favorite musicians and personalities... "i scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream!"
35. the piano :
jane campion directs this international triumph... holly hunter works here, oddly enough, mainly because she doesn't speak throughout the film... one sees harvey keitel's penis (and on that subject... harvey is a true man to let a shot of that size out in the public without flinching... a "bigger" man than most in hollywood... a bigger heart at least)... the film is beautifully shot... lovely grey sky feeling throughout... the child actor does a bang-up job indeed, as well... very nice... jane has much talent and hopefully many films left to exhibit that talent...
36. elephant man :
a perfect director, david lynch, to film fit... mel brooks plucked david out of obscurity (eraserhead) and into the limelight by giving him a chance to direct a large budget hollywood film... and it all comes together about as well as one could ever hope a story of this nature to be realized... i often neglect to view this film on sentimental grounds (it is the only film that is guaranteed to make me cry)... so, i also end up neglecting myself of the beauty that this film holds... boo-hoo...
37. secrets and lies :
directed by the naturalist, mike leigh... an obvious mike leigh film... not nearly as dark in tone as 'naked'... but, is (to some at least) more sentimental in a closer to the heart "real" way... this film was too good to be nominated by the academy (they disgraced it by nominations anyway)... one of the best films in years... a top ten (probably top five) film of the nineties... that makes two top ten nineties films thus far... what's next... a third... probably...
38. death and the maiden :
a film with political ties (as i stated before, i normally don't care for such work) that is relavent to the story and is placed in the background with psychological torment and exploration at the forefront... this film is "my" type of film... only three characters are seen throughout the entire film! only two settings (mainly one!) throughout the entire film! i love it... performances are solid all around (sigourney weaver's career best)... directed by roman polanski with the sort of shear ease that comes from being a master for decades... a pleasure...
39. masculin/feminin :
"the children of marx and coca-cola" by jean-luc godard... a snugly experimental formed narrative about the stirrings of raw youth... yet untouched by the shallow, de-energized outside world... maybe godard could have filmed "feminin/masculin" and shown the effects of the weight of the world on the shoulders of our young hero after it becomes obvious that theory is just that... theory...
40. a zed and two noughts :
yet, another fascination... peter greenaway is a full-fledged cinematic genius... this film is about as "bizarro" as one could ever hope for... i will allow you to explore this one without hindrance from me, thank you...
41. do the right thing :
spike lee is a tremendously talented filmmaker... unfortunately, he feels the need to overtly bring politics to the forefront in most of his films... this one in particular... instead of expressing himself in more appropriate venues with films such as 'malcolm x'... he choices to spoil wonderful art like 'do the right thing' with his spewings... "why am i so vehement about this expression?" because i do not believe in overtly (subconscious politics, amongst other things, will come into play) expressing or dealing with politics in the venue of art... it is much more appropriate and effective in the proper venues, such as in real life... actual/factual human connection, etc... so, that leaves me a bit jaded on how i view this, otherwise beautiful, film... as you can tell by my list, i am firm on "art-for-art's-sake"... so, with that said... the film has stunning cinematography (by one of the best in the biz ernest dickerson) and outstanding direction by lee... some solid performances and an appropriate lead in spike lee (unlike woody allen most of the time, spike is actually appropriate in his leading role)... and a hilarious performance by giancarlo esposito... on an emotional level, the film is strongly effective (on numerous emotional levels)...
42. crimes and misdemeanors :
a woody allen film... woody sells himself short by (one) not taking himself as a filmmaker more seriously... and (two) cramming a film in each and every year (no-one should produce a film per year... no-one)... what this means, especially the latter, is that woody creates a solid film about every few years or so... and the time was ripe for 'crimes and misdemeanors'... it's a half & half film (half serious/half humorous)... after the pressure of 'interiors' , woody has buckled a bit throughout his career shying away from fully serious films... that is a shame... maybe in his old age he will loosen up by becoming more serious about his own films... if only he would take the cue from his hero ingmar bergman and express his neurosis... not just talk about it...
43. naked lunch :
william s. burroughs alive... alive i say! a surrealist film treatment based on the drug-induced 'naked lunch' novel... the film is a next step of evolution in the maturing (now matured) filmmaker david cronenberg... after many sci-fi/horror meanderings (though somewhat interesting) david has begun to crank out some truely quality work with 'the fly', 'dead ringers', 'naked lunch', 'm butterfly', etc... i hope that cronenberg continues his journey into quality...
44. the cook, the thief, his wife, and her lover :
peter greenaway directs 'the cook...' with beautiful color schemes and grotesque scenes of shit eating, book page exfixiation, cannibalism, etc... a nice irony to the film... horrific/beauty... and a albino choir boy thrown in for good measure...
45. juliet of the spirits :
content latent... 'juliet...' is more of a visual feast... it has fedrico fellini working with color film for the first time... and fellini thrives on the medium as if it were created FOR him... already with his first wack at color he creates, in 'juliet', a visual masterpiece of the class of 'prospero's books' or (another greenaway film) 'the cook, the thief, the wife, and her lover'... again, this is an absolute visual masterpiece... (many would have 8 1/2 here, or above... but, i find 'juliet...' to be more visually pleasurable... and i find both films to be somewhat lacking on content... thus)
46. pulp fiction :
co-written and directed by quentin tarantino (scorsese junior)... there is nothing much more to say about this one (that hasn't already been said, and then some)... it is an impressive film on an extremely cliched hollywood of an idea... with actors who are normally un-impressive... samuel l. jackson carries every scene he is in on his back (with a nice job as a supporting actor by john travolta)... bruce willis is a bore, as usual... and there are certain annoyances throughout the film... with that said, it is one of the better films from the 90's thus far...
47. i shot andy warhol :
an interesting subject, valerie salonas... an interesting film, directed by mary harron... starring one of my favorite relatively young actors lily taylor... poor casting with steven dorff as candy darling (one of the few examples where the actual person was much more attractive than the actor)... other than that tiny complaint... the film is one of the better of the decade...
48. 8 1/2 :
known to many as the ultimate filmmaker's film about a filmmaker... created by federico felini... '8 1/2' does not represent that for me... but, rather is a lush painting come to life... i do not get the depth that so many other's seem to extract from it... i find it to be the male, black & white (appropriately enough, with the male exhibiting less expression) version of 'juliet of the spirits'... and 'juliet...' for my pleasure provides a bit more (mainly because of the stunning color surrealism of 'juliet...')
49. raising arizona :
one of the most impressively hilarious films ever committed to celluloid... by the brothers COEN (brilliant american filmmakers of the ultra-modern era)... this has nic cage at his pre-nineties best (since 'wild at heart' poor nic has created nothing but complete bull-shit with the exception of 'leaving las vegas' in the 90's)... absolutely over-the-top... nicely supported by holly hunter... '...arizona' has art-house flair with good ol' boy gen-x trailor park hipness that pre-dated the trend (tarantino and his disciples)... this is one of the hand-ful of films that i wished i would have created myself...
50. malcolm x :
as solid, if not more, as any of oliver stone's presidential pic's... spike lee directs a lovely film on the subject of malcolm x... spike's political beliefs in an appropriate forum, finally... although i await a purely artistic endeavour from spike (which i do not ever see happening) 'malcolm x' delivers... with the exception of the final montage/preaching finale... we certainly could have done without that little coda, thank you...
(c) copyright 1997 michael g. breece