Defining Humanity With A Movie

[Adam]

Absurd hypothetical: If aliens from outer space who were totally unfamiliar with the human race landed on Earth tomorrow, what one film would you show them that you feel, for whatever reason, sums up all of humanity? You can only pick one movie. I think the answer to this question potentially says a lot about a person

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/lastnight.jpg

Mine would be Don McKellar's wonderful Canadian film, Last Night

[number8]

Battle Royale.

[EyesWideOpen]

A Clockwork Orange

[BuffaloWilder]

Anything by Neveldine and Taylor.

[Adam]

Some glass-half-empty motherfuckers up in this piece

[number8]

Some glass-half-empty motherfuckers up in this piece

Nah, I think Battle Royale is brutally honest, but ultimately very positive.

[Boner M]

Love Streams

[Kurosawa Fan]

Samurai Cop

[Morris Schæffer]

The Best of Youth

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

The Peanut Butter Solution

http://charliepineapple.files.wordpre ss.com/2008/11/pbjpg.jpg

[Mysterious Dude]

My Neighbor Totoro

Gotta give a good impression.

[Milky Joe]

2001 or Eyes Wide Shut

[chrisnu]

Scenes From A Marriage

[Dead & Messed Up]

Baraka.

[Morris Schæffer]

The Peanut Butter Solution

http://charliepineapple.files.wordpre ss.com/2008/11/pbjpg.jpg

Of course! Naturally!! ;)

[Spinal]

Since they are novice filmgoers from a different culture, I'm going to keep it basic and not choose something heavily reliant on dialogue. I agree with Antoine. I also want to keep it optimistic and not focus too much on humankind's potential for cruelty and war. I'm choosing City Lights.

[Ezee E]

2001?

[Watashi]

A Goofy Movie

[StanleyK]

not choose something heavily reliant on dialogue.

On that vein, Koyaanisqatsi, which is also good because it highlights both mankind's hability to produce beautiful things and its tendency to destroy them.

[Bosco B Thug]

I think lots of films sum up humanity very nicely, so that's a hard one for me to narrow down.

But I think I got this: I'd show them something Cassavetes, but to throw them off. Show them the most complex, uncommonly scintillating human beings we've got to offer and they won't want to annihilate us or brag about their superior technologies because they're boring compared to us.

[eternity]

The Mist, ironically.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Mist, ironically.

My answer is more accurate than this.

[murphandslurph]

I would say Slacker

[Russ]

F for Fake

[Ezee E]

My answer is more accurate than this.
haha.

[Spinal]

So the aliens travel light years across the galaxy and only have time to catch an afternoon matinee before taking off again? Whoever's funding this mission back home should be fired for wasting taxpayer dollars.

[trotchky]

Synecdoche, New York

Eyes Wide Shut is another good choice.

[number8]

Still waiting for a better suggestion than Battle Royale.

[Watashi]

Still waiting for a better suggestion than Battle Royale.
I just did.

[number8]

I just did.

And have aliens think we're a bunch of dogs? No.

[Ezee E]

Crash.

:)

[Grouchy]

Still waiting for a better suggestion than Battle Royale.
Actually, me too. That was my first thought even after just reading the title of thread.

[chrisnu]

Crash.

:)
The Cronenberg film.

You can count on me to always bring that up

[number8]

Cronenberg's film is phenomenal artistically, but would be kind of a shitty portrayal of humanity.

Haggis' film would be an intergalactic embarrassment.

[Pop Trash]

I'm choosing City Lights.

Word. I thought of Chaplin as well, mostly for his positive humanism and visual storytelling (not too much talky talky for our presumptively other language speaking aliens) Modern Times would be a consideration but might focus too much on manual labor issues, so yeah City Lights it is.

[trotchky]

Still waiting for a worse suggestion than Battle Royale.

[number8]

Still waiting for a worse suggestion than Battle Royale.

Really? There's two pages of them.

[bac0n]

Destroy All Monsters.

I don't want those assholes getting any ideas.

[Mysterious Dude]

So the aliens travel light years across the galaxy and only have time to catch an afternoon matinee before taking off again? Whoever's funding this mission back home should be fired for wasting taxpayer dollars.
Maybe it's a privately funded expedition. The aliens are capitalists. In which case, we should be very worried.

[Adam]

Quick, somebody hide Michael Moore before the aliens get here!

[balmakboor]

I would say Slacker

Good answer.

|
V

[Qrazy]

Andrei Rublev

Might do Stalker but I feel like Rublev has greater scope and tells the stories of more characters so it might be a slightly better cross-section.

[Sycophant]

City Lights may be the best one mentioned so far.

Kore-eda's After Life also seems a good idea to me.

[DavidSeven]

Tokyo Story. A fair, non-sensationalized view of both the selfish and redeeming aspects of humanity.

[Sycophant]

Tokyo Story. A fair, non-sensationalized view of both the selfish and redeeming aspects of humanity.

I can dig it.

[balmakboor]

Tokyo Story. A fair, non-sensationalized view of both the selfish and redeeming aspects of humanity.

Thread over.

[Derek]

Thread over.

Except it's not because Leo McCarey made a far superior version of the same film 16 years earlier. So sure, I'll throw my vote to Make Way for Tomorrow.

[Qrazy]

Some others:

The Bicycle Thief, La Dolce Vita, Sunrise

[Adam]

Another one I just thought of is Le roi de coeur

A good message for the aliens and a very foxy Geneviève Bujold, to boot

[Eleven]

Except it's not because Leo McCarey made a far superior version of the same film 16 years earlier. So sure, I'll throw my vote to Make Way for Tomorrow.

Lame.

But no matter which one we choose, some 13-year-old alien kid is going to call it "slow" and "overrated" and dismiss it for being black-and-white (or possibly for being in 2-D if the aliens have "evolved" beyond that).

[Ezee E]

How about The Brother From Another Planet?

[Sycophant]

Except it's not because Leo McCarey made a far superior version of the same film 16 years earlier. So sure, I'll throw my vote to Make Way for Tomorrow.

I need to figure out how to watch this movie.

[Dukefrukem]

Crash


hahahahaha!

[Ezee E]

Crash


hahahahaha!

...

[Dukefrukem]

Crash.

:)

holy shit i made my post not reading a single post in this thread. :pritch:

[murphandslurph]

I like that trotchky said Synecdoche New York. I wouldn't list it as all encompassing of humanity and its nature, but Synecdoche is probably on my top three favorite movies of all time (even though i haven't seen enough to REALLY judge)

[Derek]

Lame.

Preferring McCarey's film to Ozu's is lame? Um, okay.

Sycophant - to see it, there's the internet, crossing your fingers for the rumored Criterion release to come true or e-mailing me your address and I'll mail you my DVD copy (admittedly poor quality) to watch. This offer is open to everyone but Eleven.

[kuehnepips]

... I also want to keep it optimistic and not focus too much on humankind's potential for cruelty and war.

Why?

[Mysterious Dude]

Why?
If the aliens see how violent and cruel we are, they might put a force field around Earth to prevent us from ever leaving and bringing our warlike ways to other worlds, just like that episode of South Park (and My Teacher is an Alien (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Teacher_Is_an_Alien)).

[Spinal]

Why?

For the same reason I clean up when company comes over.

[trotchky]

The Girlfriend Experience