MC Wednesday Inventory #3: The Five Films that Most Embody "Your" Taste

[dreamdead]

For this week, it's not so much about your five favorite films. Rather, it's about the five films that you could name to others so that they could understand your cinematic predilections. If you're a genre-hound of part of the Asian cult, what would best describe those tendencies? If you defer to films that explore philosophy with a certain brand of ideas, what would best showcase that mindset?

[Dukefrukem]

I would invite them into my nightmare of tension.

1. Rear Window
2. The Thing
3. Alien
4. High Tension
5. House of the Devil

[MadMan]

My taste is all over the place.

[dreamdead]

Save for excursions into essentially pure imagery (see Malick and Wong), I'm most taken by the subset of talky cinema concerned with love and morality. Thus, I'd represent my main cinematic attraction with the set of films below:

1. Claire's Knee
2. My Dinner with Andre
3. Last Days of Disco
4. Secret Sunshine
5. Summer Hours

[Spinal]

Dancer in the Dark
The Holy Mountain
Life of Brian
Prospero's Books
Walkabout

[MarcusBrody]

I'm not sure I can find a really common thread through the films that make up my taste. I love the straightforward yet clever actioner, the naturalistic portrait that shows joy as well as difficulties, the dark comedy, it's hard... But here is a list of what I might consider the films that are most emblematic of my taste:

Dazed and Confused
Raiders of the Lost Ark
In Bruges
La Dolce Vita
City of God

I guess I like films that are either a rollicking good time or really delve into a social system.

[ciaoelor]

Nice topic... I'll just choose films seen recently

Punch-Drunk Love - the film-making & everything about this makes me smile, from ear to ear, from intro to climax
Enter the Void - this is THE modern movie theater movie; the sights and sounds are so hypnotic
Cure - directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa; it casts some sort of weird spell while being so stripped-down
Spring Breakers - I wish more modern experimental directors made movies this colorful, sexy, and fun; also shot by Benoît Debie
Inside - I love the two bold, strong female performances, but without the atmospheric photography, this would be unwatchable

[Ivan Drago]

1. Magnolia
2. Enter The Void
3. Mulholland Drive
4. Donnie Darko
5. Crank

[Skitch]

Akira
Seven Samurai
Fight Club
Aliens
Battle Royale

[Ezee E]

You tell me.

[wigwam]

complications, ego, chaos, ambiguity, pessimism ...yknow, beauty!!!

The Big Country
Modern Romance
Szamanka
A Late Quartet
Anti-Clock

[EyesWideOpen]

House (1977)
A Clockwork Orange
Death Proof
The Wizard of Oz
Moulin Rouge

[B-side]

1. Few of Us (Sharunas Bartas, 1996) [almost entirely visual, oneiric, melancholic, natural beauty]
2. Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948) [American west mythos, humanistic, subtly political]
3. Crank: High Voltage (Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor, 2009) [manic, stylistic excess, zeitgeist, easily enjoyed]
4. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955) [unabashedly romantic, subversive, technicolor dreamscape]
5. The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindô, 1960) [Sisyphean rural portrait, modernity, lower class identity]

[Irish]

Gotta call bullshit.

There isn't a single Tony Scott movie in that list, B-Side.

[B-side]

Gotta call bullshit.

There isn't a single Tony Scott movie in that list, B-Side.

I covered that angle with Crank.:D

[Ezee E]

-Goodfellas
-Amelie
-There Will Be Blood
-The Shining
-The Fly

[MadMan]

I guess I do love me some 80s cult films:

1. Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
2. Repo Man (1984, Alex Cox)
3. Big Trouble In Little China (1986, John Carpenter)
4. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987, Sam Raimi)
5. This Is Spinal Tap! (1984, Rob Reiner)

HM: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Re-Animator (1985), and The Killer (1989).

[D_Davis]

1. Kentucky Fried Movie
2. We're Going to Eat You
3. Inland Empire
4. Mind Game
5. Holy Mountain

I like absurdity, things that explore humanity, art and religion, and irreverent action.

[Russ]

I like absurdity, things that explore humanity, art and religion, and irreverent action.

Dude, you REALLY need to see THIS film:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj5w5EseGAo

[elixir]

this is interesting. i find it really hard to find even just two or three overarching themes besides maybe films that are pretentious and french, so i'll go with one film each to illustrate a few things. which maybe doesn't help explain my taste at all, haha!

la vie nouvelle, for its haptic abstraction, nightmarish vision, and sensory assault
glue, for its hazy remembrances, summer grime, and wayward youth
the young girls of rochefort, for its precise staging, joy in music, and impossibly gorgeous colors/actors/setting
toutes les nuits, for its philosophical inquiries, essentialism in physical motion, and awareness of time's passing
margaret, for its narrative asides, perpetual messiness, and constantly vacillating emotions

[D_Davis]

That looks great, and totally not to be confused with the other movie called Crimewave from 1985 (what POS that is).

[Gizmo]

Closer
Magnolia
Mulholland Dr.
Fight Club
The Skin I Live In
Memento

I like films that build on the first viewing and then reveal subtle nuances in further viewings when you already know what was initially not known. Films that hold up despite knowing the "twist".

[bac0n]

- Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
- The Black Hole
- Pink Panther Strikes Again
- Ran
- Marvel's The Avengers

I tend to gravitate toward silly popcorn films I don't need to think too hard about. And Kurosawa.

[Pop Trash]

Movies that made me think "damn, I wish I had made that!"

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. You Can Count On Me
3. Donnie Darko
4. George Washington
5. The House of the Devil

[B-side]

I like absurdity, things that explore humanity, art and religion, and irreverent action.

After reading this, I was gonna say I bet you Russ could have you covered for months with recs. Might have a few myself.:P

[Russ]

I like absurdity, things that explore humanity, art and religion, and irreverent action.

Also watch any Mark Rappaport film you can lay your hands on.

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/astrojester/Impostors_zps802d8d49.jpg



After reading this, I was gonna say I bet you Russ could have you covered for months with recs. Might have a few myself.:P Yeppers, I reckon that's true. http://i1.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/cool.gif

[Watashi]

1. A Goofy Movie
2. Whisper of the Heart
3. Happy Go-Lucky
4. The Thin Red Line
5. Network

[megladon8]

Hey this is a cool thread idea.

I'm really into genre-bending. It's funny how, saying that, I am really not much a Tarantino fan.

Of course I'm huge into superheroes and that, and while I love superhero films and going to see them, films in their ranks that I would put among my "favorites" are few and far between - like, count on one hand few and far between.

I really am enthusiastic, though, about the previously mentioned bending and blending of genres, which I imagine will come across in my list:

American Psycho
Le Samourai
Oldboy
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Superman

[D_Davis]

1. A Goofy Movie
2. Whisper of the Heart
3. Happy Go-Lucky
4. The Thin Red Line
5. Network

I get everything here except for #4. What is it about that film that identifies with you?

[D_Davis]

HM: An American Werewolf in London (1981)


This almost made my list, but I decided to go for KFM instead. You just can't go wrong with Landis and Co. during their heyday.

[Winston*]

I don't know.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Black Narcissus
2. Juliet of the Spirits
3. The Naked Island
4. The Passion of Joan of Arc
5. Fucking Amal

[MadMan]

I don't know.Heh just make up a random list. Hell Winston* you are kind of a random guy so it would work :)


This almost made my list, but I decided to go for KFM instead. You just can't go wrong with Landis and Co. during their heyday.Absolutely. I haven't seen KFM but I really should.

Oh and I realized I could probably do this over and over again. I'll stick with my list but I could also cover classic westerns, ultra violent horror movies, badass action movies, and shittastic comedies that critics hated but I like.

[Watashi]

I get everything here except for #4. What is it about that film that identifies with you?

I love movies that ponder the questions of good vs. evil and connects it with nature. One of my favorite books is The Things They Carried. It totally resonates with me.

[B-side]

3. The Naked Island

:pritch:

[Russ]

3. The Naked Island


:pritch:
I thought about making a list, and this was the first title that came to mind.

[Ezee E]

I feel like I should put in Do The Right Thing to replace The Fly...

[Raiders]

The likely "best answer" with respect to my love of the austere, minimalist and tragic cinema...

1. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
2. The Ascent (1977)
3. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
4. Two Lovers (2008)
5. Wanda (1971)

The answer I wanted to give...

1. Scorpio Rising (1964)
2. White Dog (1982)
3. A Bucket of Blood (1959)
4. God Told Me To (1976)
5. Glen or Glenda

But that probably is not really indicative of my general taste, just my personal love of low budget and/or camp classics with some meat on the bones.

[Derek]

I thought about making a list, and this was the first title that came to mind.

Yayzees for the Naked Island love. Such an amazing film.

[baby doll]

Fish and Chips: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Sushi: Late Spring
Curry Chicken: Aparajito
Korean Barbeque: The Housemaid (1960)
Sichuanese Hot Pot: 24 City

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Passion of Joan of Arc
To Be or Not to Be
Throne of Blood
No Direction Home
Rififi

[Melville]

Film as existential phenomenology and a window to transcendence:

Emak-Bakia
Edvard Munch
Possession
Solaris
Ordet

[B-side]

Melville is always the best at things.

[Lucky]

Colorful and tragic--sweet on the outside, bitter on the inside.

2046
Moulin Rouge
House of Flying Daggers
Pan's Labyrinth
Grave of the Fireflies

[Fezzik]

This is a tough one. My tastes vary so much, so I will try to touch on films that touch on some of the things that inhabit the ones I love the most.


Almost Famous
Singin' in the Rain
Ratatouille
In the Mood For Love
Back to the Future

[Dukefrukem]

I thought of five more than share a common theme that I really enjoy watching.

1. Breakdown
2. Count of Monte Cristo
3. the Godfather
4. Oldboy
5. Taken

[Sycophant]

This doesn't look too different from any top films list I might write up. There's no coherent theme that I can see, but I think this maps out the most basic outlines of my tastes.

God of Cookery
The Royal Tenenbaums
Bullet in the Head
Hanabi
Hara-kiri

At first I had Mr. Thank You in place of Hanabi, but I think this is probably a more sensible configuration, though it leaves a blind spot to early Showa cinema or even prewar cinema at all. I also considered Preston Sturges film in its place (probably Sullivan's Travels) but I think Wes Anderson and Stephen Chow somehow bridge that gap for me.

[Lurch]

1. Alien
2. Die Hard
3. Caddyshack
4. Apocalypse Now
5. Psycho