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10 best of all time...and recent timeDec 28 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Best recent movies: Schindler's List, Tarnation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Election, YiYi, Talk To Her, There's Something About Mary, Short Cuts, Spirited Away My ten favorite movies all have one thing in common -- they made me see differently. A nice story I can get from a book; great acting I can see on the stage; good music I can hear on CD. A great movie must have all these but something extra visually -- a new way of seeing. (Note: new is not necessarily the same as most obvious or flashy.)Also, movies are a collaborative art, but I like them best when the vision of one auteur (the director usually) dominates. 1. 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was the first movie that made me understand that movies could be more than just filmed books. Kubrick tells his story with images -- the cinematography, editing, sets, special effects, and music combine to create a work of art that defies translation into other media. 2. 8 1/2: This movie taught me several things. First, that an intensely personal and self-reflective (some might even say self-indulgent) work of art can still speak to an audience on both intellectual and emotional levels. Second, that the medium of film allows storytelling that is unhinged from time and mixes reality and fantasy. Fellini's movie about the making of a movie (that is, the making of the movie we're watching) is ultimately a story of the artist's triumph over obstacles by giving up on trying to make sense out of life's absurdities and instead going along with the circus and parade of reality. 3. Stardust Memories: Not many critics agree with me, but I think this is one of Woody Allen's best films. It purports to be a take-off on 8 1/2, but it is much more. It is a very personal film and contains two of the most complex female characters in Allen's work. Like Fellini, Allen plays tricks with past and present, reality and fantasy, and includes lots of self-referential tidbits, particularly at the end. And it's funny too. 4. City Lights: Chaplin's masterpiece is too sentimental for some, but I found it more emotionally satisfying than either The Gold Rush or Modern Times, with just as many laughs. The final scene of the Tramp when he meets up with the flower shop girl who has regained her sight due to his anonymous help is among the most poignant in film history. 5. Singin' in the Rain: When it comes to Hollywood musicals, it doesn't get any better than this. What stands out for me is the screenplay. Sure, the songs are good, the dancing even better, and the acting just fine, but the whole concept -- the witty self-referential take on the transition from silent to sound in the movies -- makes this musical seem more sophisticated than many others. As just one example, Gene Kelly tries to explain this idea he has for a musical scene to his producer and director -- as he speaks, the entire scene is played out, with Kelly singing and dancing among huge sets with lights and costumes. When he's finished describing the scene, the producer says, "I can't quite picture it." A musical that makes fun of itself -- how novel is that? 6. Tokyo Story. What is so powerful about this quiet Japanese movie is director Ozu's decision to film almost the entire movie with a fixed camera about waist high. Much of the film takes place in rooms where the actors are sitting or kneeling. Since we are so used to the acrobatic camerawork of many Hollywood diregtors, this meditative viewpoint is startling, and forces us to look at the scene differently -- to look, and look and then look again, seeing more each time. The camera doesn't cut away just to satisfy our miniscule attention spans. Instead, it trains us to slow down and notice the details of life. 7. Apocalypse Now. Coppolla made four masterpieces (The first two Godfather movies, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now). The last of these four is the most disturbing and personal. By bringing Conrad's Heart of Darkness to Vietnam, Coppolla made a movie about the 60s, about modern warfare, about colonialism, and the nature of insanity. In scene after scene, he pulls together disparate elements to create visceral images that build on one another until reaching an appropriately apocalyptic conclusion. 8. The Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, the World of Apu). I realize this is more than one, but they really go together. This trilogy from Indian director Satyajit Ray follows a boy from an impoverished rural family through childhood and into adulthood. The naturalistic style is a sharp contrast from the typical lavish style of Bollywood. Filled with great acting and emotional moments. An example of how cinema can make us appreciate the drama of a single life. 9. Rules of the Game. Jean Renoir (son of the famous painter) directed this subtle tale of the decline of the European aristocracy in 1939. It has an Upstairs/Downstairs structure, with the foibles of the rich guests at a country mansion mirrored by the goings-on of the domestic help. The scene of the rabbit hunt is a powerful allegory shot and edited to perfection. 10. Citizen Kane. There's a reason it's on so many 'best of' lists -- it's a masterpiece. Enfant terrible Orson Welles had only one chance to make a movie with full studio support and no restrictions, and he made the most of it. He may not have invented any new techniques, but he was the first to use them all and to use them to their potential. Cinematically (credit Gregg Toland in part) it was a dark gothic tale, with shadows, and low angles, and long deep focus shots. The script (credit Herman Mankiewicz in part) told a strange biography from many points of view, none of them really capturing the essence of the man, some of them contradictory, others telling us more about the storyteller than the subject of the story. The 'answer' to the Rosebud question is not meant to be final -- by the end of the movie we know enough not to trust simple answers.  |
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by George_Chabot
by dangbro
