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alix_no
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An error has ocurred. Please try againAndrei Tarkovskiy's Favorite Directors: -Luis Bunuel -Robert Bresson -Ingmar Bergman -Kenji Mizoguchi -Aleksander Dovzhenko -Sergei Parajanov -Akira Kurosawa -Michaelangelo Antonioni -Jean Vigo -Carl T. Dreyer Information from: [link]http://criterioncollection.tumblr.com/post/47109888544/cinephilearchive-in-1972-andrei-tarkovsky-told#_=_[/link] [link]http://mubi.com/lists/films-admired-by-tarkovsky[/link]
“My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films." Paul Thomas Anderson
11/03/2018: have stopped updating list. relocated to letterboxd, follow: https://letterboxd.com/alixno/
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ratings count:
10s: 0 (0%) | 9s: 9 (2.4%) | 8s: 49 (13.3%) | 7s: 101 (27.4%) | 6s: 79 (21.4%) | 5s: 74 (20%) | 4s: 39 (10.6%) | 3s: 11 (3%) | 2s: 4 (1%) | 1s: 3 (0.8%)
top 10: 1/ the beast 2/ morvern callar 3/ stella dallas 4/ love exposure 5/ ms. 45 6/ last days of disco 7/ cabaret 8/ fallen angels 9/ scherzo infernal 10/ the stendhal syndrome bottom 10: 1/ schizo 2/ zen for film 3/ francisca 4/ donald trump's the art of the deal: the movie 5/ the extraordinary child 6/ 9 minutes 7/ no. 4 8/ nightlife 9/ Inochi bô ni furô 10/ everybody wants some!!
16 films: walerian borowczyk 9 films: stan vanderbeek 7 films: dario argento 6 films: takashi ito, matt mccormick 5 films: paul sharits 4 films: nicolas winding refn, masaki kobayashi, hsiao-hsien hou, catherine breillat, stan brakhage, George Maciunas, ben vautier 3 films: william k.l. dickson, jan lenica, jodie mack, norman mclaren, marie menken, jeff keen, d.w. griffiths, yoko ono, robert watts, harun farocki, lis rhodes
reppin usa: 176 (47.7%) | france: 37 (10%) | uk: 31 (8.4%) | australia: 22 (6%) | japan: 22 | germany (inc. w/germany): 13 (3.5%) | canada: 9 (2.4%) | czechoslovakia: 8 (2.1%) | italy: 8 | south korea: 6 (1.6%) | poland: 5 (1.4%) | mexico: 4 (1.1%) | denmark: 4 | hong kong: 4 | taiwan: 4 | iran : 3 (0.8%) | china : 2 (0.5%) | china: 2 | sweden: 2 | portugal: 2 | soviet union: 1 (0.3%) | russia: 1 | spain: 1 | austria: 1 | belgium: 1 | hungary: 1 | yugoslavia: 1
2010s: 68 (18.4%) | 2000s: 40 (10.8%) | 1990s: 28 (7.6%) | 1980s: 44 (11.9%) | 1970s: 37 (10%) | 1960s: 71 (19.2%) | 1950s: 23 (6.2%) | 1940s: 12 (3.3%) | 1930s: 11 (3%) | 1920s: 12 (3.3%) | 1910s: 5 (1.4%) | 1900s: 3 (0.8%) | 1890s: 6 (1.6%) | 1880s: 1 (0.3%) | 1870s: 1
features: 176 (47.7%) | shorts (inc. doc shorts): 164 (44.4%) | documentaries: 20 (5.4%) | tv (mini-series/episodes/tv movie): 9 (2.4%)
foreign: 129 (35%) | b&w: 134 (36.3%) | silent: 25 (6.8%) |
total: 369 films i'd call a favourite: 25 (6.8%)
take 'favourite' with a grain of salt on the earlier films; with some years i don't really love a select film but i would still technically consider it favourite just due to limited viewings.
In the years where I've seen a lot of stuff i'll add a top 5 or so in the description.
missing a couple years here and there.
apologies for having melies as the list poster
Reviews
Her (2013)
Spike Jonze proves himself to be one of the most promising and creative artists of the 21st century
In a long line of brilliant 2012-13 romance films from Haneke's study of love, time and space in "Amour", Linklater's third installment in his growing depiction of a relationship over time in "Before Midnight" and Kechiche's widely acclaimed journey of self-discovery in "Blue is the Warmest Color". Spike Jonze's "Her" closes the year off with an exceedingly creative, charming, relevant and prophetic film. Jonze's creativity is on full display from the moment the film starts, set in a colorful and foreseeable future where technology has just as much control as it does now, but it is we who have become more dependent on it.
We see Theodore, brilliantly played by Joaquin Pheonix who brings sensitivity and quirkiness to the role, as a writer at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, a company which specializes in "handwriting" letters for people that can't properly express themselves. Theodore is in his late 30's, and feels isolated, depressed and disillusioned with relationships after a recent significant breakup with his wife, played by Rooney Mara. Loneliness gets the better of Theodore and he installs an A.I. operating system in the technology he uses. Unsurprisingly, a relationship develops between Theodore and the A.I.
This isn't the first film this year dealing with A.I, Bujalski's Computer Chess from this year also dealt with similar themes, but was set around 40 years ago. Through the relationship that occurs between Theodore and his OS, named Samantha played by Scarlett Johansson, Jonze is able to simultaneously reflect the isolating and absorbing effects of technology in contemporary society, while also studying the mutual give and take that is necessary in a relationship and after the relationship. Throughout the film Theodore often denies that he cannot cope with "real" emotions and is the only reason why he is now dating an OS. This is somewhat true of his character, he can't properly cope with true emotions and tries to avoid responsibility in a relationship. His response is to back out, Theodore's ex-wife's "volatile" emotions can be seen as a main reason as to why the relationship did not work, yet tragically he feels too much of a connection to her (she was his life- long friend) to sign the divorce papers. Theodore's job is to fabricate emotions for other people, which doesn't result in personal consequence to Theodore, although he does seem to have sentimental attachments to some of his clients, also in the beginning of his relationship to his OS he is satisfied with the fact there is no responsibility involved with Samantha. This is not the case with her.
Samantha happens to be the most interesting character in the whole film. She is a sentient computer that learns from her experiences and even struggles with thoughts that have plagued mankind forever, such as existence and free will. Again through the relationship in the film Jonze seems to contend that love is the connection between psyches and, if anything, looks are not a large factor in true love. The first love scene that occurs between Theodore and Samantha is portrayed by a black screen. This was a perfect decision by Jonze, we can't see that it is a person with a computer, in that moment they are both thinking and feeling beings that transcend body and are just attracted to each others conscience, physicality is emulated through their passion. This is represented with a black screen and it is the most powerful, sensitive and intimate image in the whole film.
As the relationship progresses between the two we see Samantha's fears of Theodore losing interest in her because she lacks a body. A beautiful scene develops where a "surrogate body" agrees to be the Samantha's body in the relationship. Theodore has doubts about this of course and unsurprisingly he cannot go through it. The "surrogate body" craves to be part of a relationship and is hurt once she leaves the apartment. Not only does this scene reflect the craving people have to be in a healthy relationship but it also makes the point that a body can diminish, even cheapen, a relationship. A fight occurs between the two as Theodore learns that this is a two-sided relationship that has "real" emotions and so Theodore must realize that their relationship is "real" and requires an element of responsibility. Meanwhile, Samantha begins to view the body as a limitation and this opens up the ideas of omnipotence, alternate theories of love, the metaphysical and whole higher plains of conscience, all of which are eloquently explained in the film. Some of Samantha's logic and ideas begin to transcend human comprehension and it is apparent that the A.I's have surpassed what they have been programmed to achieve.
What I found to be the most interesting aspect of the film was societies reaction to the relationships of A.I's and humans, which is complete acceptance. This I believe stems to the fact that the A.I's are fully conscience, albeit non-physical, beings. As for the relationships between A.I's and humans being so widely accepted? I think that Theodore's best-friend Amy, subtly played by Amy Adams, seems to sum this up "we're only here briefly. And while I'm here, I wanna allow myself joy. So f**k it."
There is an immense expressionistic beauty in "Her" and at times it has the visual boldness of a music video, it goes without saying that the screenplay and direction are brilliant. "Her" contains one of the smartest, touching and most beautiful endings in modern cinema. The A.I's leave us, but in someway are still connected. The ending provides an awakening to the introverted nature of technology and how love has the ability to change us, whilst shining a new light on the necessity of relationships, our fears of loneliness and living a life of joy without isolating ourselves or others. I believe that the film does leave the characters with a somewhat more optimistic outlook on life. I can't wait to see what Jonze has next for us.
Le silence de la mer (1949)
A Promising Debut
Le Silence De la Mer (Jean-Pierre Melville)
This slow burning World War II drama is based on the short novel of the same name about a German soldier, Werner Von Ebrennac, during wartime who lodges with a French man and his niece, Ebrennac is met only with silence.
Throughout the film Ebrennac attempts to establish a connection to the French and periodically preaches his ideologies of alliances, the similarities between France and Germany, now and again he tells stories of his youth and his fears of the evil that people are capable of. Ebbrennac is attempting to gain empathy from the French, for them to view him as human, rather than an enemy since he admires France so much. Melville denies that this is his attempt to fix the frictional relationship between France and Germany, suggesting instead that the film is just a faithful adaption of the novel, evidenced by the films beginning which is a novel being opened, the film ends with the novel closing.
The house in which most of the film takes place has a ghostly air, the nephew and niece act as though Ebrennac is never there. Ebrennac often drifts in and out of the house and talks to no reply. The film's style is a slightly infrequent, switching from basic narration to flashbacks. Nonetheless the film provides a good idea of French-German relationships during war and challenges peoples perspectives on the enemy. Melville inclines us to understand that the enemy are individuals that are being puppeteer-ed by dictatorial fascistic leaders and that occasionally one in a few aren't hateful. Although the film tends to be a bit slow at times for me and occasionally uninteresting.
The film relies on its dialogue and so the photography is quite simplistic. Inspired metaphoric imagery sometimes sneaks into the movie such as the niece's scarf which features two hands reaching for each other (it looks like it could have drawn by Cocteau). The simplicity increases our awareness and exaggerates the slightest element of suspense, like hearing a pin drop in a silent room. The intense stares shared between characters speaks volumes more than any of the dialogue contained in the film. The slightest hand movement attracts attention.
I feel that the movie is sometimes overdone because of its overly extended scenes of silence which didn't really connect with me, although they are important. This is a promising debut film that features great performances, realistic characters, a unique atmosphere and humanistic overtones.
Dekalog: Dekalog, osiem (1989)
Zofia's guilt
Kieslowski's Dekalog are stories of human motivations, the repercussions of human instinct and above all god's impact on our decisions. Dekalog VIII fit in well with the series, it's messages were clearly communicated and the performances were great but I think that the film by itself wouldn't be able to hold up. I feel that Dekalog VIII was a weak contribution.
The story was weak in comparison to the other Dekalogs and it lacked the emotional punch of the other films. The part of the film I found most interesting was Zofia's meeting with the contortionist. I believe that this scene is metaphorical for the futility of trying to change what had happened to Elzbieta and the guilt will stay with Zofia forever. Other than the commandment it is based on the theme of this film is guilt and I think that was what I didn't like about the film. Zofia let Elzbieta in her life out of guilt and Zofia's motivations were selfish after the war. Guilt crippled Zofia's life and she was trying to make up for it by teaching economics,teaching people to become better humans. Elzbieta's arrival back into Zofia's life was her redemption. Elzbieta was showered with kindness and answers by Zofia and all the help that Elzbieta needed. Was this because of the goodness that was inside everyone as Zofia put it or was this because Zofia wanted to feel better about herself? I believe in the latter. I think if I re-watched this I would definitely like it and understand it more but as it stands this is my least favourite Dekalog. As always Kieslowki's direction really makes the film and shows a unique vision of these characters. It is worth watching. 7.5/10