Thursday, June 19, 2008

Top Ten Criterions

I've by no means seen the entire Criterion Collection, or even a dent of it, but of the ones I have seen, these are some of my favorites:

TOP TEN IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER


Beauty and the Beast

This film is inventive as all get-out. It's really something special, the production design and inventive use of people as props is something that's gone by the wayside with CGI. There's something to be said for a hallway full of just people's arms holding candles. The story, of course, is one that will stand the test of time, but this production of it is quite unique. I don't own this DVD, but I should...

Bed and Board

You can easily watch this film without having seen the others in the Antoine Doinel series, as it keeps you up to speed with everything that you need to know. When this film is lovely it's outstanding and when it's not, it's a bit heartbreaking. There's so many wonderful moments and easily my favorite Truffaut film that I've seen.

F For Fake

Love it, love it, love it. Sooo good. It's Orson's free form documentary and it's a trip. If you're at all into con-men or people trying to pull something over on someone else than this is the film for you. It's got a great visual style and energy. It's a little masterpiece, and the DVD set comes with a great documentary that shows how awesome-crazy Orson was.

Love in the Afternoon

OK. I'll admit that I haven't gotten all the way through my Eric Rohmer box set, but I saw this film long before that ever came out, before the Chris Rock remake (still curious to see that). It's just a really good film and explores something simple, but universal for not only men, but women too I think. It's a slow film, but it's just got some simply lovely things going on in it. (I still prefer the alt title, 'Chloe in the Afternoon')

Rebecca

I'm a big fan of Hitchcock generally, and like Rohmer, I own a lot of Hitchcock films and have watched.... most of them... This is by no means my favorite of his films, but it's a really great haunting love story, beautifully shot.

Scenes From a Marriage

My entry into Bergman was through Woody Allen. This is easily my favorite of his films, despite my enjoyment of a great deal of his pieces. The sequel to this "Saraband" is an awful mess and really doesn't do this piece justice. I loooooove Liv Ullmann. She's beautiful and smart and sexy. If I could ever find a leading lady like her I would never ever write for anyone else. That's probably not true, but I think she's wonderful. I've still yet to watch the mini-series full length version. I should get on that...

Sullivan's Travels

The film that makes you realize why you should really make films. I don't own this. I really should. I don't want to ruin it, or it's ending, but it's just fantastic.

Tanner '88

A very cool little experiment and one of Altman's most interesting projects (to me). A young Cynthia Nixon and an interesting statement on politics. The follow-up film that was made years later was OK, but it didn't capture what this did.

This is Spinal Tap

So goddamn funny. I could just fill this blurb with quotes. Full of wonderful subtle sight-gags. It's like there's something new to catch each time you watch it. There's probably a lot of really bad mockumentaries that got made because of this film, but I don't care. It's just sooooo good. You can't not listen to the commentary where the cast does it in character: practically like watching a sequel to it.

Tokyo Story

I have a shit load of Ozu films that I bought after watching this, and I haven't watched any of them. I'm really horrible about that. This film hypnotized me. Some people say that it's slow as hell, but I don't find that. I really adore it. The older couple is so heartbreakingly real. I'd like to do a film like this one day, simular story. I think it's just as relevant today.

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