The Non-Adminstrative top 50 (continued)

[Melville]

Great review. I especially like these notions:


At other times, however, Isaac’s weakness manufactures in a fear of innocence

we must constantly grapple with whether or not Isaac is governed by a return to the ideal or by petty narcissism.
Regarding the latter question, I think Isaac is governed by both a longed-for return to the ideal and by petty narcissism.

[ledfloyd]

great choice. great write up.

[Bosco B Thug]

I loved Manhattan, great review. Liked it better than Annie Hall and I watched them in a double-bill about a year ago. I've only seen it once, but I love the paragraph about the film's "consistency." I love consistency. :P I definitely felt ambiguity at (and a personal disconcertion with) the end... if I recall, the last exchange is rather matter-of-fact and the final cut-to-black is rather abrupt...? I'm recalling way out on a limb, here, though...

[Boner M]

2. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

http://www.rouge.com.au/images/10/marias/4.jpg

When it comes to sheer, humanist power, no films that I've seen can touch Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff. "A triumph of the human spirit" is a phrase bandied about so recklessly and misapplied to so many treacly, facile films, but I can't think of another film that embodies the phrase better than this one. It's actually quite a feat that the film manages to be so powerful, since the production was in fact extremely compromised; the inappropriately jaunty title, referring to a character who has a relatively small role in the film, was originally what Mizoguchi had intended on being the focus point, but studios insisted that the story should be about the separation of a family and hardships of the brother and sister under that character's rule. No matter, since the resulting folk-tale accessibility of the film achieves a mythic, visceral sweep that is singularly captivating.

Opening with a foreword that explains the film is set in "an era where mankind has not yet awakened as human beings", Mizoguchi crafts the film so that it has the feeling of an awakening, from a nightmare world of cruelty and oppression to one where altruism and individuality are able to exist. Outside the gruelling slave camp scenes, Mizoguchi films unruled land with a ghostly, virginal glow that contrasts stunningly with the aforementioned, suggesting a world of potential existing beyond the confines of harsh authority. Noted for the fluidity of his camerawork, here the camera soars and glides with a sense of grace that evokes the persistent, boundless spirit of his characters. Indeed, if the film leans toward the didactic at times, as brother and sister repeats their father's advice ("without mercy, man is like a beat"), it can nonetheless be excused for a film that has persistence running through it's very core.

The role of music also complements this central theme; a song by Nakagimi, longing for her children manages to reach them at their camp after achieving folk legend, and acts as a guiding light for Zushio in the film, leading to the film's extraordinary climactic confrontation. It's an unforgettable, wrenchingly emotional ending; not to mention a masterclass in raw, compassionate acting. The very final pan guides us across the coastline, then toward the ocean's horizon between two dark, forbidding cliffs; a simple, yet eloquent and lingering metaphor for resilience in the face of inhumanity.

[dreamdead]

The best reviews bring back the visceral power of the film being discussed. Reading this, I was reminded of the quiet power Mizoguchi elicited from his immaculate images. I was suddenly reliving capture on the boat, the song, the daughter's water scene, and the escape in the woods.

If I am occasionally reminded of the slight didacticism, I am just as likely reminded of the dialectic that Mizoguchi attains from the grace of his camera and his framing. Wonderful write-up; great film.

[Boner M]

Thanx dd! Reminds me that I need to see more Mizoguchi, as well as repeats of Ugetsu and Oharu, which I can barely remember despite seeing on the big screen less than 3 years ago.

And OMG, time for the unveiling of out #1's!!! 14 months in waiting!!! :eek:

[Duncan]

Only seen two Mizoguchi films (including this one) but both have had moments that remind me why I watch films in the first place. There's some quote by Anthony Lane in which he describes a Mizoguchi tracking shot as a declaration of faith. I believe it.

Unfortunately, there is also that issue of didacticism that you mentioned. I couldn't get beyond it in either this or Ugetsu. I'd love to see either for a second time, however. They seem like films I could warm up to on second viewing.

[Qrazy]

Thanx dd! Reminds me that I need to see more Mizoguchi, as well as repeats of Ugetsu and Oharu, which I can barely remember despite seeing on the big screen less than 3 years ago.

And OMG, time for the unveiling of out #1's!!! 14 months in waiting!!! :eek:

Ugetsu is amazing, somehow even better than Sansho. Oharu was good but it disappointed me.

[Velocipedist]

Manhattan and Sansho, two of the best right there.

[Ezee E]

Could this actually end?

I'll be done on Thursday.

It's quite obvious though, so hopefully I can at least muster up some good thoughts on it.

[dreamdead]

I watched my #1 last night in anticipation of this colossal event. It brought me back to the euphoria I had when I first watched it. This is gonna be fun, especially since I only know one of the #1s.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Did Wats ever post his #2? And where the heck has he been lately?

[dreamdead]

Did Wats ever post his #2? And where the heck has he been lately?

He never has posted his #2, no. I know he's been consumed by computer problems and work, though, and I thought it best that the three of us knock this thread out and then Wats can come in and bat clean-up and get all the glory.

[D_Davis]

I watched my #1 last night in anticipation of this colossal event. It brought me back to the euphoria I had when I first watched it. This is gonna be fun, especially since I only know one of the #1s.

We're all finishing at the same time! It's like the planets are aligning for some cosmic event...

[Velocipedist]

It will be rather orgasmic.

Better than Scientology.

[D_Davis]

Better than Scientology.

There is no need for hyperbole.

[Sycophant]

Yeah, Wats hasn't been around lately to tell me I fail for liking something he likes but liking something else still more. Miss him.

If I put on the hustle, I think I can get my #1 out at about the time you guys do.

[D_Davis]

If I put on the hustle, I think I can get my #1 out at about the time you guys do.

You've only got like, what, 95 movies to get through?

[Sycophant]

You've only got like, what, 95 movies to get through?Eh... 98.

By the way, Boner, love the inclusion of Sansho the Bailiff. So far, it's the only Mizoguchi I've seen, but it was really quite astounding.

[Ezee E]

Don't let Wats' ego build guys. It will only lead to trouble.

[Sven]

I watched my #1 last night in anticipation of this colossal event. It brought me back to the euphoria I had when I first watched it. This is gonna be fun, especially since I only know one of the #1s.

I know what it iiii-is, I know what it iiii-is.

[Melville]

I know what it iiii-is, I know what it iiii-is.
E's is the only #1 that I know. I guess I haven't been paying enough attention.

[Ezee E]

#1
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/WanadooFilms/Misdaad/GoodJimmy2.jpg
http://www.blu-ray.com/images/reviews/76_1.jpg
http://www.dvd.net.au/movies/g/00487-3.jpg

Duh.

But what is it about this movie that I love so much?

For one, it has a different take then most biopics have, and while it may seem like a typical gangster movie now, this was the one that started the trend of voiceovers guiding the story. In the end, I still can't think of a movie that handles a voiceover better than Goodfellas. For one, it isn't central to just one character, it's to the lifestyle. We still see the story told in images, but we also get an idea of the characters' mindset during the visuals. We don't necessarily get told what we see, unless its about Jimmy Two-Times.

Instead of finding redemption, the main character never really does change. He still loves the culture, and doesn't want to leave it, but his actions force him to. His life was at stake, and he betrayed the family.

ANd so on.

Thank God this is done.

[dreamdead]

Dammit, I had this spot pegged for The Age of Innocence!

In all seriousness, a solid choice, though one that I definitely need to revisit over summer, since I don't think I've seen it since '97 or '98. For those of us on our #1s, how many times would you project that you've seen it? I know mine has been watched at least 20 times...

Meantime, I was dead-on with my projection on the over/under that Scorsese would appear five times. Where's my prize (or rep)...

[dreamdead]

One of the virtues this Top 50 took on was its sluggish pace near the end, as I gained additional time to reflect on my immediate love for this final film. There is something unsettlingly insular about throwing a film that’s only been out for two-three years to the top of any hypothetical list, and the perspective that was granted by the dawdling pace we affected here allowed another four to five viewings of this film. Each time I came out of the film’s spell as enraptured as the first time (when I left the otherwise empty theatre and got into my car and cried joyfully as I drove back home), and I was finally assured that this is the film that captures everything I look for in cinema. For example, films that engage relationships, psychology, and philosophy (see the Dardennes, Eric Rohmer, Hong Sang-soo, and Wong Kar Wai, among others) are the ones I am most drawn to, as they articulate a vision of people struggling to identify their place in the world, frequently fighting off narcissistic desires until they reach some quiet epiphany, wherein the film then closes. Yet it closes with the prospect of continued forward movement; things have not been resolved necessarily, but rather they have been revealed. That’s what I watch film for, at the core. You might say this trajectory, which is most like the narrative short story, is the key to my love for these films. And this film, to me, does it better than any other. So…

#1 Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/spring2004/features/images/paris1_400.jpg

Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset (2004) follows its predecessor by nine years in terms of both the real-time and film-time that has elapsed since Before Sunrise (1995), so that the reunited characters of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Cèline (Julie Delpy) are now in their early thirties. Meeting up at a Parisian book signing where Jesse is promoting his fictionalized account of that night so many years ago, the two again roam the streets and talk in the few hours before Jesse returns to America. Here in this film, though, the conversations are weighted by the irreversibility of time and guarded by the emotional damage that each has sustained. At its core, Before Sunset shatters the idea of an idealistic romance that existed at the end of the first film even as it creates a new one. And it is these repetitions and re-workings that give Linklater, Hawke, and Delphy room to explore contrasts and subtleties.

Whereas Jesse and Cèline’s conversations often revolved around idealistic impressions in the earlier film, now more adult questions of marriage, responsibility, time, and care dominate their discussions. These intimate details slowly reveal how much each still desires the other, which in turn problematizes philosophical notions of love, so that when one of them glances away from the other for a moment, the other is always moved to touch them. Their marriages and relationships with others have now weighted the slightest of touches with profound meaning.

Their scene in the taxi brings about the film's first peak, when the words of Jesse and Cèline become imbued with pain and hatred. The easy rhythm that both characters have been operating under is suddenly revealed to be falsehood, and each character no longer talks around their regret, but instead thrusts that regret against the other, willing them to react. It's a powerful, naked moment of disclosure, and perhaps the best scene in the film. It is certainly the moment wherein my perceptions of Before Sunset changed from sweet romance to a powerful drama that masquerades in lightness.

Before Sunset unfolds under real-time narrative, so that the audience always knows that Jesse and Cèline’s encounters will soon be cut short, that, as the sun fades, so too does the chance of the two finding peace. However, that peace is similarly problematized because of the responsibilities that both characters have to other partners, and it is here that Linklater massages his material, capturing the depth of contemporary relationships and mores. Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy (who all co-wrote the screenplay) love their characters too much to surrender to a melancholic ending, and give their characters the send-off that audiences have waited nine years for, even as it forces those same audiences to come to terms with the morality of that decision.

Recapturing the most magical moments of the first film (witness the parallel between the wordless glances back and forth in the record store listening station in Before Sunrise and the stairway sequence in Before Sunset, when their attraction is mutually realized), while creating new moments (Cèline’s waltz that she plays for Jesse), Before Sunset is a masterpiece of contemporary adult romance, identifying all that we love about film and rewarding us with a vision that is never condescending to romance or life itself.

[Melville]

Somehow I agree with everything you said, even if I don't much care for the movie. Great review.

I was hoping that E would come up with a last-minute twist ending.

[ledfloyd]

nice, i thought i was the only one that thought that film was deserving of being in a best films ever conversation.

[D_Davis]

Congrats E and DD - good stuff!

Although, I personally don't care for either of your #1 films, I do understand why they are both loved.

It feels good to be done with a project, don't it?

DD - your write up for BS is good, and it conveys the reasons why you think it is so good very well.

[Ezee E]

It's impossible to know how many times I've seen any of my top ten. I don't keep track, and there are several times where I'll see a bit of it on TV, and watch it the rest of the way.

[Marley]

Rep for you Mr. Dreamdead. Coincidentally, we share the same #1 and that is the best review I have ever read about the film. :pritch:

[Boner M]

Great and original #1 choice that I didn't expect at all! I've seen the film several times and each viewing it edges closer and closer to being an all-time fave. Good idea w/ the intro, as well.

Goodfellas is grand too, but I saw it coming.

[dreamdead]

6. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969)

What resonates most from the film is the issue of human faith in the face of oppressive authority, particularly in the film's much-lauded final segment. If the film occasionally lags from didactic (but still illuminating!) philosophical inquiries and a lack of narrative progression, it's all eventually given a new perspective by this final portion, involving a young boy who uses his own blind faith to guide the construction of a giant bell in order to save his own life. The act of faith is witnessed by Andrei, and inspires him to paint again after a period of inner conflict and resulting inactivity, finally displayed in an extended montage at the end.


Hmm, yeah, the last hour or so is the sequence that most resonates with me as well. This paragraph nicely encapsulates my sentiments toward it, as that struggle of--and dependence on--faith (even as the boy still feels his father has failed him) hit me on a far more visceral level than the rest of the film. Admittedly beautiful and compelling throughout, it's this last sequence that impells engagement for me. And waiting until the coda to unveil the frescos is probably the smartest move Tarkovsky could have made, since they divest any last semblance of conventionality from the biopic structure. I don't think this film penetrates my sense of what cinema can be, nor does it strike me as a masterpiece as the film is just starting to settle, but even if my favorite of Tarkovsky's is still Mirror (after seeing that, this, and Solaris) I always find myself returning to his structure of filmmaking simply because it is so singular.

Stalker should be next, methinks. Oh, and finish yer damn list.

[Ezee E]

We all deserve negative rep for the way we ended this.

[ledfloyd]

We all deserve negative rep for the way we ended this.
it's not over yet. where's wats at?!

[Melville]

I don't think this film penetrates my sense of what cinema can be...
Care to expand on this? I'm wondering what you sense cinema can be.


And wherefore art thou, Boner?

[Boner M]

Sigh, I guess I can always add a review later...



1. O Lucky Man! (Lindsay Anderson, 1973)

http://fraser.typepad.com/a_girl_a_gun/images/oluckyman_1.jpg

[Sven]

Very interesting!

[Melville]

I don't think I've even heard of that movie before now. But a quick glance at its summary on Wikipedia suggests that it's awesome.

[Sycophant]

I now really understand why seeing me assign the same three-star rating to Anderon's film and Yuen's DOA made Boner cry. Interesting choice indeed. I'd like to give it another shot one day, when I have that kind of time.

[origami_mustache]

Yes...it is very awesome. It's just too bad Britannia Hospital had to be such crap.

[Melville]

Now we just need Wats to reveal his top 2.

[Watashi]

2. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kirshner, 1980)

http://www.the-reel-mccoy.com/movies/1997/images/walkers.jpg



1. Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo, 1995)

http://media.monstersandcritics.com/articles/1148582/article_images/whispercap3.jpg

Sigh.

[Derek]

Yes...it is very awesome. It's just too bad Britannia Hospital had to be such crap.

Indeed. That one's an absolute mess but O Lucky Man! is glorious. I was released on DVD recently so no excuses for not seeing it.

I must say boner, that is a shocking pick. I knew you loved it, but I never would've expected it to be that high. Hopefully this top 50 has not left you and Wats so broken that you won't get around to posting thoughts...

[Qrazy]

Care to expand on this? I'm wondering what you sense cinema can be.


I think he's trying to say it didn't shatter his expectations and make him re-evaluate the language of cinema... which is of course wrong because it should of and therefore he fails... at life.

[MacGuffin]

I was released on DVD recently so no excuses for not seeing it.

Supposedly Netflix doesn't carry the second disc. Otherwise, there's always the VHS tapes at my local library, but I'm not sure I want to go that route with a movie of this length (although I did it for Celine and Julie Go Boating, but whatever).

[Spinal]

I think I knew everybody's favorite film here except for dreamdead.

[Sycophant]

Yay, Wats!

[dreamdead]

I think I knew everybody's favorite film here except for dreamdead.

And I'm sorry that you probably see more in the other three #1's than you do in mine.:P

Melville, I'll give some organized thoughts on the question you posed later...

[origami_mustache]

Supposedly Netflix doesn't carry the second disc. Otherwise, there's always the VHS tapes at my local library, but I'm not sure I want to go that route with a movie of this length (although I did it for Celine and Julie Go Boating, but whatever).

Hmmm, I rented it a month or two ago and they sent me both discs together.

[MacGuffin]

Hmmm, I rented it a month or two ago and they sent me both discs together.

Okay, cool. Thanks.

[Boner M]

Indeed. That one's an absolute mess but O Lucky Man! is glorious. I was released on DVD recently so no excuses for not seeing it.

I must say boner, that is a shocking pick. I knew you loved it, but I never would've expected it to be that high. Hopefully this top 50 has not left you and Wats so broken that you won't get around to posting thoughts...
Thoughts, and hopefully and extensive ones, will be coming soon.

[Melville]

I think I knew everybody's favorite film here except for dreamdead.
Watashi's choice does seem obvious in retrospect, but I never would have guessed Boner's.

I think it behooves me to see everybody's number one. I've put a hold on O Lucky Man! at my library, but I don't know where I can find Whisper of the Heart.

[dreamdead]

Care to expand on this? I'm wondering what you sense cinema can be.


Qrazy largely captured my intentions with his phrasing. Because of a familiarity with Mirror and Solaris prior to viewing this, I was already familiar with Tarkovsky's worldview and sense of cinematic possibilities. Though I remember little save for some random images from Mirror (especially the burning house), that's the film of his that remains burned into my memory, and is also (unsurprisingly enough) the first of his that I viewed. As such, there was no real epiphany here concerning how film can describe emotional interiority or lack main characters but still distill an ontology of time and space. Instead, passages remain indelible, but the whole film fails to receive signification to me. That said, my preference of film is firmly tied to dialogue-centered, long-take driven character studies, which is a style that Tarkovsky doesn't really focus on, so I'm aware that my interests are opposite his.

I might as well also take this space to note that in the past year, after the top 50 list was drawn up, I watched several films that would now make the list. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Yi Yi, Battle of Algiers, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Sansho the Bailiff would all likely place now.

[Boner M]

Films that would likely make my revised list:

Two-Lane Blacktop
Bigger Than Life
What Happened Was...
Sans Soleil
Seven Chances
A Nos Amours
Ordet

[Ezee E]

Hmm... I'll have to think about movies that would make my list. I'm sure there would be a few.

[Melville]

Films that would likely make my revised list:

Two-Lane Blacktop
Bigger Than Life
Ordet
Nice. Especially the last one.

[Boner M]

Nice. Especially the last one.
Cool, didn't know you were a fan of 2-LB. I really dug it last year when I saw it on the big screen, but upon watching it last night on DVD it's articulation of basic existential dilemmas grew even more resonant and haunting. That final shot sends a chill up my spine.

[Qrazy]

Cool, didn't know you were a fan of 2-LB. I really dug it last year when I saw it on the big screen, but upon watching it last night on DVD it's articulation of basic existential dilemmas grew even more resonant and haunting. That final shot sends a chill up my spine.

I disagree with everything you just wrote.

[Boner M]

I disagree with everything you just wrote.
Business as usual.

[Watashi]

My Top 50 would look a lot different if I redid it now.

[Qrazy]

Business as usual.

Pish posh.

Sans Soleil and Seven Chances are amazing... particularly the former.

[Boner M]

Pish posh.
Yeah, I guess we agree more than I realise... but somehow it's only the disagreements that stick with me.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, I guess we agree more than I realise... but somehow it's only the disagreements that stick with me.

It's because you're a bitter, bitter man.

We'll always have Cassavetes.

I'm excited for Flight of the Red Balloon, huge fan of The Red Balloon... although I've only seen Millenium Mambo from Hou and I was fairly underwhelmed.

[Melville]

Cool, didn't know you were a fan of 2-LB. I really dug it last year when I saw it on the big screen, but upon watching it last night on DVD it's articulation of basic existential dilemmas grew even more resonant and haunting. That final shot sends a chill up my spine.
Yeah, that final shot was magnificent. Here's my capsule review from a month or so ago:

What starts out seeming like one of Tarantino's wet dreams ends up as a surprisingly poignant, almost suffocating portrayal of existential angst and aimlessness. Warren Oates was awesome.

[Watashi]

Here are some films that would probably make my list if I updated it. The order would be different too.

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
Seven Chances (Buster Keaton, 1925)
Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)
Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1962)
Fail-Safe (Sydney Lumet, 1964)
Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999)
Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson, 2004)
The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006)

[Melville]

I just finished watching O Lucky Man! Great stuff. At times it seemed a bit flat, but the cumulative effect is tremendous, seeming to survey life in its entirety. The actors' appearances in multiple roles worked wonders in adding to this feeling of an epic overview of life, as if that life is a constant froth of recurring people and events. I love how the ending ties this froth of life to the meaning of the film's title.

My favorite moment was definitely the image of Malcolm McDowell strolling across a rolling pasture, clad in his golden suit and armed with his walking stick. It perfectly captured the 1970's-era picaresque nature of the story.

[Boner M]

At times it seemed a bit flat,
You mean flat stylistically? I think my only problem with the film is that Anderson's formal sensibility doesn't thrill me as much as my favorite filmmakers... in fact, I felt the same way about If... with its arbitrary alternation between b&w and color.


but the cumulative effect is tremendous, seeming to survey life in its entirety.
Yes, that's definitely what I admire about it most; the sense that you've experienced a lifetime once it's ended. And jesus, thanks for reminding me that I have yet to write extended thoughts on it...

[Melville]

You mean flat stylistically?
Yep. But somehow I think a more engaging style might have actually detracted from the film's cumulative effect. The empty style allows the story to kind of fill itself up.

[Spinal]

And jesus, thanks for reminding me that I have yet to write extended thoughts on it...

Don't you hate it when people bump threads like this? :)

[Boner M]

Don't you hate it when people bump threads like this? :)
Hope springs eternal in a young man's breast
And he dreams of Boner's review ahead
Without that dream you are nothing, nothing, nothing
You have to find out for yourself that dream is dead

Seriously though, in the next few weeks... before my holiday. I swear.