Top 10 Foreign Films since 1990

1. Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro (2006)

2. Three Colors Trilogy by Krzysztof Kieslowski (1993-1994)

3. Tsotsi by Gavin Hood (2005)

4. The Double Life of Veronique by Krzysztof Kieslowski (1991)

5. Amores Perros by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (2000)

6. Joyeux Noel by Christian Carion (2005)

7. Y Tu Mama Tambien by Alfonso Cuaron (2001)

8. Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni (1998)

9. Curse of the Golden Flower by Yimou Zhang (2006)

10. The Orphanage by Juan Antonio Bayona (2007)

Top 10 Directors Over 60

This is the second list in a series of randomly ordered top 10 movie lists

1. Martin Scorsese
2. Ingmar Bergman
3. Akira Kurosawa
4. Alfred Hitchcock
5. Stanley Kubrick
6. Robert Altman
7. Krzysztof Kieslowski
8. Terrence Malick
9. Werner Herzog
10. Jean-Luc Godard

Honorable Mention - François Truffaut, Clint Eastwood, Charles Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks

A Weekend of French Tragedy

Above is one of the most famous images from François Truffaut's Jules and Jim if not from the entire French New-Wave. The film was just one of two films that I watched this weekend with tragic results, the other being the equally beautiful and tragic Contempt by fellow Frenchman, Jean-Luc Godard, which is about the process of making a film, though not in the same way that Fellini's 8 1/2 or Truffaut's Day for Night is about the making of motion pictures.

Godard has a much more subversive goal in his film. He tells the story of a love triangle that develops between the writer and his wife, along with the producer of the film. Much in the same way that Jules and Jim has the two titled men pining after Catherine. Despite the leauges of differences between the two films, at their core, in their essence are fairly similar.

Shot in a grandiose Cinemascope (which is what Kubrick shot his '68 masterpiece, 2001 in) and some of the most breathtaking technicolor ever put on film Godard's film is simply breathtaking. At times the score outshines the film, in that it plays as a score for the film that the crew in the film (including Germany's great, Fritz Lang, as director) is making, rather than the film Godard is making.

On the flip side of this, Truffaut shot Jules in Jim in a playful, nearly hand-held, style black and white, much to the style of A Hard Day's Night would later be shot. In the midst of this, however, he interweaves pieces of film that look as if they could be pieces of old home movies or documentary footage as well.

The two films above are amongst the greatest films of the French New Wave, rendering them amongst the greatest films ever made. I would highly recomend these films to anyone who asked, and to anyone reading this.

Ordet by Carl Theodor Dreyer

Feeble are the words that are about to come from this writer. It is that way because there are few words to describe Dreyer's 1955 film, Ordet, without sounding dumb unless you are made of stone. This is quite possibly the most important film about spirituality ever made and as I commented to my roommate last night is a stark and beautiful contrast that I could only describe as "Antibergman" but you will have to watch for yourself to see if you agree.

The film follows five main characters: A man, his three sons and the eldest son's wife. The five principles have differing levels of faith from "lost it long ago" all the way to claiming to be the person of Jesus of Nazareth to bring peace to the family through the hardships they will face soon.

How the film plays out is poetry on celluloid and I will endevour to say no more about the film in order to avoid spoiling it for anyone. If one has an interest in things spiritual, or just wants to see a fine film (the next to last film Dreyer directed) should look into viewing this film.

Top 10 Directors under 60

*NOTE* this list is not in any particular order, so sorry for the lack of organization.

1. Joel and Ethan Coen
2. Guillermo del Toro
3. Paul Thomas Anderson
4. Wes Anderson
5. Alfonso Cuarón
6. Sean Penn
7. Alejandro González Iñárritu
8. Jason Reitman
9. Michel Gondry
10. Darren Aronofski

Honorable Mention: Alexander Payne, Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze, George Clooney

Bergman and Melville?

This week I am awaiting for a Criterion Collection two-disc set of Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows a curiously poignant film from the director of Bob le Flambour and Le Samurai, but it is none-the-less one of the great pieces of war film that I have ever seen. It follows several members of the French resistance during the period of Nazi occupation in France and their trials and sacrafices.

In any case, what brings this post to fruition is that my roommate was watching my copy of Bergman's Shame last night and I found myself thinking about how beautifully these two very different films come together, despite their glaring differences to make companion pieces for one another of war and peace time thoughts and actions.

Again, these two films have little in common, but I believe that there is a linking between the two that is magnetic in nature. If you have seen both films and would like to add some more thoughts to this slim post, please share. If you think there are glaring mistakes in this post, please explain and if you think that there are some other films that could fit in with these films please let me know, because I am endlessly intrigued with war cinema and the actions and consequences that are shown so vividly in them.

Well...

I have been busier than I had expected to be and I apologize for the lack of posts.

Some of the movies I have watched lately:

Love in the Afternoon (one of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales) which is a fantastic piece of film.

Samurai Rebellion which seems to show the viewer what would happen if Ozu and Kurosawa had a love-filmmaker, with a finale to die for.

Burn After Reading The Coen's latest comedy may be the brothers' best post-critical screwball comedy.

Son of Rambow wonderful indie comedy about a young lad from England and his coming of age tale.

The Counterfeiters The Austrian winner of the Best Foreign Language Oscar last year is a powerful story about an interesting concentration camp in WWII.

The Fall by Indian director Tarsem. Visual masterpiece.

Stay tuned for early Oscar coverage and some fall movie picks. The meatier pieces may have to wait until Christmas break.