Artimidor's 111+ Movie Masterpieces, Reviews & Trailers

One of film history's brightest stars
In hypothetical 2001 auteur-duo Stanley Kubrick and sci-fi master Arthur C. Clarke take us on a unique journey into the unknown, leading us far out into the vast reaches of space, where man is all alone with himself. Or is he? For an ominous artifact excavated on Earth's single natural satellite, the moon, seems to suggest otherwise. The enigma of the monolith beckons - and points further out there. What hides behind the glassy slab composed of the inkiest blackness imaginable? Is the monolith a relic from a long-lost cosmic culture? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it serves as a sentinel, an extraterrestrial guardian to evaluate intelligent life, an alien yardstick to measure civilization, to supervise its genesis and progress. Or is it closer to a teacher, providing man with the missing link to what lies beyond, a rung to hold on to, so that a sometimes floundering race may evolve beyond? Have we come across a gateway to a first encounter, to - who could know? - even something... divine? - Questions abound: Who created this inscrutable object? And why, after so many years of resting buried, has it been activated, signaling... where to? The answer might transcend comprehension and thus mankind as we know it. We have arrived in hypothetical 2001, the year when everything is about to change.

Ambiguity is not "2001's" liability, but its forte. It is the main and heady ingredient Kubrick allowed to dominate Clarke's potent sci-fi cocktail of ultimate questions. Whereas the grand mysteries of life's origin and destiny are gradually diminished in Clarke's accompanying novel and even more so in the three succeeding books, Kubrick opts for a pure philosophical angle, studding it with iconic imagery. Ultimately, the viewer is left with facing the sublime alone; dropped right into the majesty that is the universe, on his way towards infinity. Visuals reign. Visuals supplemented by such diverse, seemingly contradictory soundscapes as György Ligeti's eerie "Requiem", Richard Strauss's epic "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", Johann Strauss's unforgettable "Blue Danube" waltz, and the sheer intensity of universe-wide eternal silence.

Almost unfathomable that we have to remind ourselves that Kubrick put this masterpiece on celluloid based on pre-moon landing data. So accurate is his dedication to scientific accuracy that the conspiracy theories about him having staged the actual moon landing haven't let up till this day. Then again, how disappointing that post-Kubrick filmmakers have mostly given up on taking a leaf out of his book where space is married with science in supreme beauty; instead, they deliver lackadaisical CGI-infested crowd-pleasing imitations and, if they have to say something at all, they drench them in pseudo-intellectualism. Looking back, one has to grant at least the follow-up to the mother of all space operas, "2010: The Year We Make Contact" (Peter Hyams/Arthur C. Clarke), that it is not a bad film. And yet, for what it's worth, it already looked dated upon conception. While full of monoliths, it lacks all things Kubrick, which condemns it to a mere footnote to the seminal original. "2001" is more than a movie. It's an epiphany. Mankind's third millennium starts with "2001", date and film, and with good reason.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv4Jv15OSGI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjIqQBsPjk (Re-Release 2014)

A deep dive into a dream world - David Lynch at his very best
Hollywood, the city where dreams come true. Yet the realities of the dream world have the tendency to eventually turn into a nightmare, a nightmare which is too real to be lived in... Welcome to a David Lynch picture, where nothing is as it seems, and Lynchian logic reigns to leave you befuddled, mystified, mouth agape when the curtain falls and silence spreads. Mulholland Drive is a movie which engulfs the viewer in its intricate mystery plot like no other and leaves you with a load of memorable, haunting or outright shocking images you will never forget. You might be caught off guard by the true nature of the underlying mystery, and the denouement will keep you mesmerized for sure, making a re-watch essential, yet rewarding experience. As often with an excentric filmmaker's work, this is a movie to only get going in your head once it's already over, and if you're willing to get immersed in it.

Lynch's masterpiece invites to dig deeper, to uncover new layers, hidden references, multiple interpretations. The film is as psychologically profound as it is visually stunning and while it draws its fascination from what appears surreal at first glance, it is nevertheless firmly embedded in a reality that won't let us go, blood-curdling as it might turn out, a reality full of hopes, dreams, obsessions, fear, you name it. "Mulholland Drive" is packed with great imagery, dark humor, wonderful music and bizarre twists and turns and stars Naomi Watts in her most brilliant role. It's a blessing indeed that Mulholland Dr. as a TV series as Lynch original envisioned and pitched it, didn't happen and he had to rethink his ideas for a year - because that was when lightning struck. Pure movie magic. This one's a keeper.

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2_a5_BlM5k

An intense look into the eye of the storm
"Werckmeister Harmonies" tells a tale like no other in a way like no one else has ever done before. If you're ready for a very different kind of art, feel free to follow a humble paper boy with the sense for wonder on his rounds. He has a clear picture in mind of what makes the universe tick, a strong belief that everything follows its preordained order, is in eternal harmony, a concept the musicologist he's working for vehemently denies - or at least that man is capable to understand it. Signs and portents already make it clear that the times are achanging, and soon shadows engulf an unnamed town in the middle of nowhere, when a circus arrives with a monstrous fish to be exhibited. And thus the young János sets out to see a whale, but what he'll get is a glimpse of an alienating apocalyptical eclipse happening right before his eyes...

"Werckmeister Harmonies" is another highly politically, philosophically, existentially, even religiously charged work, depending which way you want to see it, made by the visionary Hungarian director Béla Tarr. Based on the novel "The Melancholy of Resistance" written by long-time collaborator László Krasznahorkai it is as uncompromising as the original text and Tarr's previous cinematic works, and will bring your attention span to its limits due to its extremely slow, yet sublimely otherworldly pace. As always when Krasznahorkai and Tarr set out on a new project, the action is of profound metaphysical relevance with cosmological principles at war, but nevertheless deeply rooted in social realism, in which one can read Hungarian disenchanted life before and/or after the fall of communism, references to wars and uprisings, to false prophets, fools and opportunists pulling the strings from behind the curtain. What is apparent from the get-go is that the film defies conventions. Stylistically it is nothing less than a revelation, even for Tarr adepts, provided you admit to the created mood. Photography is in striking black and white, all around aesthetically superb essays in motion - and above all perfectly timed, an essential key element in shots that last several minutes. Every scene forms a visual unit in itself, composed meticulously, executed flawlessly, enhanced either by absolute silence, precise sound or Mihály Vig's incomparable melancholic music on the soundtrack. "Werckmeister Harmonies" is much more than a movie, a unique work of art that delves deep and stirs profoundly. Essential viewing.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YGdkxI0rU4

Timeless mysticism founded in stark realism
The saint Maid of Orléans' legend has been filmed many times, but no version can hold a candle to Dreyer's groundbreaking silent take on the subject matter. What the ingenious Dane himself dubbed "psychological realism" and "realized mysticism" is a masterfully shot close-up feast generating an overwhelming flood of imagery, a lead that Dreyer called the "martyr's reincarnation herself" (the incomparable Renee Falconetti) and powerful re-enactment of original dialog transcribed at the trial in 1431. But it's also a forthright picture sans make-up, sound, not even a backstory is there, but all of it is lacking for a reason. "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is completely focused film-making, minimalism in its purest form, centering entirely on a core theme and thus radically eliminating all other elements that hinder the primary endeavor. Even the sets only seem to exist merely on the fringe of the spiritual drama and tragedy, which unfolds through the eyes of the actors via glimmers, flickers and stares. Confronted with piercing questions again and again circling like vultures above the torn state of mind of the famous maid, Joan's soul is revealed to us. Enlightened or a lunatic is not for the film-maker to decide. However, simplicity elevated to a film-making method makes our own observations a devastating and spellbinding journey at the same time, a journey into another world from where there is no escape. What we witness is indeed timeless mysticism founded in stark reality, and that's why it shakes us to the bone.

Dreyer preferred the picture to be shown in dead silence, which makes "Joan of Arc" work as a highly contemplative, almost tangible spiritual experience of the first rank. Nevertheless several composers have tried to provide a score to this masterpiece, giving the scenes a completely new spin - all very diverse attempts, ranging from piano accompaniment to very modern interpretations. The definitive one of these is Richard Einhorn's orchestral choir supported "Voices of Light" soundtrack (1995), a masterpiece in itself, but together with Dreyer's intimate rendering of Joan of Arc's devotion to her belief an entirely new sublime work of art emerges. Completely silent or with the Einhorn score: there's no way around Falconetti's soulful portrayal in one of the greatest films of all time.

Scene from Joan of Arc (Einhorn score):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4_KDf4xhU8

Angels have names too: this one's called Amélie
Romantic comedies rarely make it to anyone's serious top ten list, as movies of that kind cater to specific expectations and do not attempt to be anything else. But of course there's the exception to the rule: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amélie". It's the movie about the search for happiness, about small things, about dreams tucked neatly under the surface of reality which want out, also a training video for wanna-be mortal angels: "Amélie" is the ultimate reminder of carpe diem, to seize the day and play an active role in the fortune of others and one's self, providing instructions on how to glue together broken personalities. Recounted in voice-overs, embedded in fantastic music that is as French as it can be, the movie is filmed with an incredible love for detail and quirkiness a viewer can handle in two hours: Learn fascinating facts about nothing particularly important, appreciate how different things happen at the same time all around Paris, meet traveling garden-gnomes, horses riding in the Tour de France.

Audrey Tautou was born for the role of jaunty Amélie, and she would work again with Jeunet in "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" - however, you cannot copy the magic of the first film. Jeunet always takes risks with ideas, sometimes going too far in a direction the audience isn't ready to go with him. He should receive his merits for trying, though. Because every now and then idea, story, actors, combined with the incomparable image laden style Jeunet puts on the screen, come together, and the result is a film as breathtaking as "Amélie".

Watch trailers here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDccikPvdU

Controversial, essential, brilliantly scored, wonderfully shot - a must-see!
"A Clockwork Orange" is an ingenious film-makers's masterclass. It's a captivating high-speed ultra-horror tour de force, a raw, grisly plunge into violence, in-out sex, rape and murder, a fall into nothingness, there and back again, accompanied by doom a-knocking with the sound of the Funeral Marsh of Queen Mary. There's also lots of Ludwig van in between in a central role, making "A Clockwork Orange" one of the best scored pictures of all time. The topic at hand is a sci-fi tale about gruesome violence based on Anthony Burgess' book, which director Stanley Kubrick made too frighteningly real for some, sugared by the film's aestheticism of violence, critics say he thus embellished despicable acts. This forced Kubrick to retract his own movie in the UK in order to prevent copycats from imitating the film - a circumstance, which of course only contributed to its undisputed cult status. "A Clockwork Orange" was a risky undertaking, a film that stirred, shocked, repelled or was loved all for the wrong reasons, but there is no way around it any way you look at it.

From the first hundred percent orange screen in movie history, to Malcolm McDowell's first shot revealing him sitting in the Korova Milk Bar with his droogies, to Jesus statues dancing thanks to changing camera angles and quick cuts and "Singing in the Rain" - in every little moment of the movie there's no doubt that a master is at work.

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPRzm8ibDQ8

Holocaust meets comedy and someone who can pull it off
Question: Is there any conceivable way at all to combine the holocaust with comedy and get laughs out of it? Well, not really I'd say, not without completely sacrificing the unspeakable horrors the concept of organized mass murder stands for. One shouldn't even try. If you look closer at Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful" you will see that such an attempt isn't actually made either in this film. It's not about ridiculing Nazis, confronting them with their own absurdities or pretend to go along with their ideas to make the underlying idiocy apparent. This is just a means. Rather the film creates a parallel, carefree world alongside the horrific reality of the Nazis, which is upheld by the central character Guido (played by Benigni himself), a clown at heart. All this in order to keep up the illusion of a perfect world for his son Giosué in the face of impending doom. "Ah, the train ride was no good," the father admits to his son when they arrive at the concentration camp. "When we go back we take the bus. I'll tell them!" And when young Giosué wants to quit what Guido has convinced him to be just a game, his father is the first one to head out: "We're in the lead now, but well, we won't get the big prize then. Too bad." And suddenly Giosué reconsiders.

Roberto Benigni undoubtedly is a brilliant comedian. He's unforgettable e.g. in Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth" as a crazy cab driver to name just one example, but unfortunately his talent is often wasted in various light comedies. Great opportunities arise rarely for comedians, but Benigni grabbed this one and put all his heart into it, as director and actor. Contrasting his slapstick humor with the stark, painful reality of the Nazi's final solution to the Jew problem is daring, risky and extremely difficult to pull off. Thanks, Roberto Benigni, for giving the impossible a try. Highest recommendations!

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAYEQP8gx3w

A masterpiece about childhood, racism, prejudice, integrity and love
"To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the few examples where novel and movie for one really have something to say and where both versions are outstanding achievements in their own right. Harper Lee's bestseller won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the movie - made with Lee's full support and produced with the same love for the material - received eight well deserved nominations for the Academy Award. The film won three, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck, a portrayal tailored so convincingly after Harper Lee's real life father that a lifelong friendship between actor and writer developed. Even Peck's granddaughter would bear the name "Harper", to appreciate the mutual appreciation. Family is also on the forefront of the film: Peck really epitomizes the role of the Southern lawyer Atticus Finch who is set to defend a black man accused of raping a while girl, convinced of his innocence. Finch has two children he needs to teach values of humanity, and these are based on compassion, courage and fighting for the right cause - against all odds. Actor and character shared these principles, and it shows.

What makes book and movie so special is that everything is seen through the eyes of the children rather than from a more objective perspective. That way the storytelling provides an unusual and fresh angle when we find ourselves stumbling into events more or less by accident and learn what's really at stake as the youngsters go along. Yet while Atticus' fight against prejudices may seem to be doomed, hope never dies - and it is a given that the viewer will walk away deeply moved by this picture. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a masterpiece about childhood, racism, prejudice, integrity and love, and it excels in dealing with all of the mentioned categories. Whether in form of the novel or the film, "To Kill a Mockingbird" should be integral part of anyone's education.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR7loA_oziY

At the very heart of the matter of moral dilemmas
With "The Decalogue" former documentary filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski and writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz tried their hands on an innovative TV concept for Polish television with the main focus on addressing moral issues the individual is facing. The result is a seminal series of ten small films where the protagonists are confronted with various dilemmas, forced to make decisions with ramifications on their own lives and the lives of others. Each of these films is a little gem in itself, and the entire lot put together provides even more weight. The episodes don't necessarily represent each of the ten Christian commandments as the title of the series might suggest, but rather it's a healthy mixture of them all, of universal value and accessible to everyone. Made in Poland in the eighties, before the time Kieslowski became known to a broader audience, the films' strong point is to show the lives of ordinary people living in the same block of buildings, doing their everyday business. Add in a dramatic ingredient dished out by fate or caused by human nature - death, illness, tragedy, hope, love to name examples - and a person's life takes another turn, gets unhinged or shifts focus. Paths formerly unexplored need to be considered and taken, often by the individual alone.

One of the great things about these small films is that "The Decalogue" uses actors you'll probably never see anywhere else again (unless you explore Kieslowski's other works), a fact that makes all these stories look as if they are taken straight out of life, portrayed by and meant for actual living people. Also due to the more bleak East bloc environment where existence is at the forefront of people's concerns, the tales can actually focus on the people involved and their issues, they are down-to-earth, raw, gritty, sometimes quite simple, yet often deep and indefinitely thought-provoking. Thus "The Decalogue" contains everything that matters when it comes to moral decisions which Hollywood blockbusters with similar themes sorely lack.

Watch trailers here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQAwEByenGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdOZInqR-j4

About things said and unsaid and everything in between - a story about life itself
Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story is a very simple narration where nothing really spectacular happens that couldn't happen in anyone else's life. What takes place in the film is just life itself. It's about the not uncommon difficulties of generations that have to deal with each other, where natural gaps arise after the children have moved away from their parents and each family member is living a different life now - all things we might have experienced ourselves in a similar fashion from the one or the other side, or even from both. Everybody tries his/her best in their own kind of way when it comes to a visit. One means well, stays polite, but the lives the family members lead are their own now. While the parents don't want to impose on their children, the children are fine when their parents are on their way again so that things take their regular course to which they are used to. But in between many things are left unsaid. "Tokyo Story" shows us in its realistic depiction of a Japanese family that only when something major happens which stirs the daily routines and challenges our outlook we become aware of what's important and where our allegiances really lie.

Ozu's unobtrusive direction is what makes this film so touching and powerful. He stays true to life and just shows us what's happening, doesn't judge, and typical of Ozu decides to refrain from camera movements altogether throughout the film which strengthens the impression that this is just how things happen out there. "Tokyo Story" is a quiet and contemplative work and the actors seem to be taken right from reality. That's why this simple story has such an impact and ranks as one of the greatest - it hits close to home, where it resonates deeply.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNUzimUStwg

Come and see... the horsemen of the apocalypse
The horror first rears its ugly head only in the corner of an eye in Elem Klimov's shocking WW II masterpiece. Almost as if it isn't real, just an illusion, a dark thought, maybe an omen, but nothing more - how could years and years of family and village life be torn away in the maelstrom of one disturbing instance? This particular shot lasts only a moment, just one character observes the irrevocable truth and there are no words to describe it. By not talking about it maybe it will all be muted, made untrue forever - for that one person and for everyone. But the brutal war reality that strikes a young Belorussian boy and his girlfriend doesn't stop at that, it is merely beginning...

"Come and see", a passage from the "Book of Revelations", is indeed an apt title for a film that makes it clear that the end of the world as we know it has come upon us: Welcome to the theater of war, to the shocking and unremitting images of the horsemen of the apocalypse sweeping over Belarus as if there is no tomorrow. "If we show the brutal truth, people won't see the film," Klimov warned his writer Ales Adamovich, but got countered with: "This is something we must leave after us. As evidence of war, and as a plea for peace." Klimov himself didn't make another film after this one. He said it all here. Right. As this is not a film about soldiers fighting bravely and earning their medals, a tragic story with an optional melancholic undertone to it that makes you sigh and move on. This picture is about the innocent victims, the shameless atrocities committed to them, the dilemma of the few survivors who are forced to fight for their mere existence. This is the unvarnished documentation of a nightmare, shot in earthy tones between beautiful idyll and the grisly aesthetics of war. It is merciless, haunting, traumatizing, not to be forgotten. With non-professionals in the lead Klimov uses close-ups upon close-ups to get in their eyes, the mirrors of their souls, where unparalleled devastation lingers. Come and see the raw cataclysm of a doomed generation living not too long ago, back then when the unspeakable happened, still present in the corner of your eye. Be prepared.

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Ro0SZf438

A killer combination - Stewart, Novak, Herrmann, Hitchcock and the perfect script
"Vertigo" is one of those killer combinations where just about everything fits like a glove. For one there's the ingenious screenplay by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor based on the French novel "D'Entre les Morts"(usually translated as "From the Realm of the Dead"). It's a spellbinding narration of a retired San Francisco police detective who gets caught up in mysterious events with supernatural undertones, peppered by deception, betrayal, crime and obsession. Then there's the cast: John "Scottie" Ferguson is played in understated fashion by James Stewart, the epitome of the humble, humane gentleman and good friend who cannot deny a favor. Confronting him with mystifying blond sexbomb Kim Novak really gets things rolling and is electrifying to see. Every moment of the main characters' difficult relationship throughout the film is absolutely believable and their chemistry on screen evident and riveting. In the music department Bernard Herrmann once again outdoes himself with an engrossing score, which will make you hold your breath in anticipation of what lies ahead - or hit you right in the face whenever necessary, and that's a good thing. The cinematography? Pitch perfect. Locations like the Golden Gate Bridge shine in all their Technicolor glory as do striking camera shots like the one from the roof at the very beginning or those from the Old Mission San Juan Bautista bell tower.

All the brilliance is carefully constructed and well held together by master director Alfred Hitchcock himself, who knows how to pull one into the film, how to get into the characters, how to make one dizzy (with style!) - and how to zoom in while at the same time physically pulling the camera back, the astonishing trademark shot of "Vertigo". A film to be watched again and again, practically flawless and all the way masterfully executed.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozzd6eizZOs

Groundbreaking ongoing one of a kind documentary about life as it happens
In 1964 Michael Apted filmed a documentary on a couple of seven year olds for a British television studio from various backgrounds. The idea was to see what the generation heading into the next millennium looked like at that early age, what their hopes were, their dreams, their aspirations. It was an interesting snap-shot for sure back in these days, but then again, who knew what would really become of those kids? Well, someone clever got the idea to revisit them at age 14 - and thus made another documentary. Seven years later they did it again, and more and more things began to shape and what at this time could be seen as an experiment became really extraordinarily interesting.

So it went on, a documentary on the lives of people like you and me. Today, a couple of dozen years later, we've got several more installments and have gained insight on what has really become of those children of the sixties. The series as a whole is simply the most outstanding and longest running reality documentary ever filmed, it's all about life as close as it can get, and due to its unique circumstances the feat is impossible to copy. There are twists and turns in the lives that we are allowed to follow, sometimes of course also influenced by the fact that they are shown on screen, in a positive or a negative way. However, in general we get a good portion of real life experience handed out via the Seven Up! series in a way we never would be able to experience otherwise, apart from our own lives. Groundbreaking indeed, must see. Should be compulsory viewing for anyone in the process of growing up...

Additional notes: The Seven Up! series has sparked various imitators all over the world, ranging from similar approaches made in the USSR, Germany, Australia and South Africa, thus honoring the original. All these attempts put together provide a kaleidoscope of developing lives around the planet in different times and places. They have their own merits, but owe much to Apted's pioneering spirit. Even Robert Linklater's "Boyhood" (2014), where a young actor is being followed playing a fictional character over twelve years while he's growing up, apparently was heavily inspired by the "Seven Up!" series. Linklater's hybrid film that tries to merge fiction and documentary however ultimately falls somewhat flat, as it is neither the one nor the other. Better stick with the real thing, and it all started here.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDO_dL2NZjk

Cinematic paradise, made for the history books
"Here's looking at you" might be Humphrey Bogart's trademark slogan, but eyes in a Leone Spaghetti Western reveal much more emotions and even plot than Bogey ever could convey with his. Sergio Leone made extreme close-ups the dominant shots to explain character - and a look into Frank's eyes (played by Henry Fonda), who was deliberately cast against his usual character in "Once Upon a Time in the Wild West", makes it perfectly clear why. There's no need for lengthy dialog if a capable director can do so much more with style alone. And of all around brilliant visuals in Leone's Westerns there is no shortage, no doubt about that. If the widescreen scenery is as grand, deep and epic a director can even deliberately allow the weight of silence to descend on the viewer and let the image speak for itself.

Once sound effects are added to compositions like these they become more than nice enhancements or mere fillers, they turn into characters themselves of a total work of art. An art that reaches even higher levels if you take Ennio Morricone's melancholic score into account which rounds off this rare masterpiece. Morricone delves deep into the souls of characters, makes whole landscapes tangible, even develops plot of the powerful story. Add to that a flawless cast (aside from Fonda Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson and others star) and every lover of the moving picture is likely to be seriously moved. Or blown away if you haven't seen anything like this before. There are so many memorable shots in "Once Upon a Time in the Wild West" that one can stop counting them early on and take the whole thing as the ultimate template on how a great film should look like. Films like these are cinematic paradise, made for the history books, and every moment of it should be savored. Definitely one of the greatest.

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw-Av9BpC-w

A chock-full treasure-trove for film aficionados
Without question F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise" is a solid milestone in cinema history. Made in 1927 it is the epitome of technical and creative ingenuity, unsurpassed at its time and still mesmerizing when seen today. Coming from German expressionism à la "Nosferatu" Murnau went several steps beyond his roots and thus brings silent film making to perfection. Silent film making? Well, here we already have an asset, which isn't even Murnau's merit: Hugo Riesenfeld's score is fully synchronized with the action on the silver screen thanks to the Movietone sound-on-film method, used for the very first time here. The score thus forms a wonderfully dynamic symphony that lasts the whole length of the movie and never lets up in its intensity. Breathtaking as the music is there's also additional effective sound, e.g. church bells tolling and the like, all in masterful combination with top-drawer imagery photographed mainly by Karl Struss.

But let's dig deeper in the treasure chest - you might be surprised what a 1927 movie has to offer! For instance Murnau taught the camera to move freely and seemingly without effort, he uses multiple exposures and super impositions in his montages, optical effects which are all done in camera. There are forced perspective shots with miniatures, even with midgets to give the street scenes on the backlot more depth. How about deep focus and compositions inspired by the beauty of 18th century paintings, high angles to express confined space, dream sequences with effective fades and overlays - like the one where the protagonist literally drowns in guilt? Apropos drowning: Ever seen a title card drown or emerge with the sunrise? And as far as intertitles are concerned: They are intentionally kept at an absolute minimum in "Sunrise", even the characters remain unnamed. Murnau doesn't make just a story, but a universal one. Oh, I forgot the plot: Well, it's about a man, his wife and a seductress and dark clouds brewing over the horizon. Sounds conventional? Definitely not in the Murnau version. There's no better picture that could have earned the Academy's "best unique and artistic picture" award, which would never be awarded again. The silent era was over, and there was that one picture that rose and shone in all its silent glory. You now know its name.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvbGF0NcD_4

Picture in search of a viewer - are you the one?
Terrence Malick never made it easy for anyone when shooting a film - not for himself, not for his investors, and rarely for the viewers of his work. "The Tree of Life", which Malick also wrote, is his most personal and uncompromising picture to date, his grand oeuvre, with key elements of his biography woven into the plot (his brother e.g. committed suicide at the age of 19). Malick doesn't shun from re-discovering cinema as an art form, go for a meditative slow pace, deal with universe deep issues centering around spirituality and put a popular actor like Brad Pitt in it - with predictable results. Audiences are either alienated by the result or call it pretentious, yet for the group that remains a movie like this is a true gift. Count me in the latter category: "The Tree of Life" is an all time classic, and will have a long life on the shelves of cinephiles.

The film is about a Texan family who has to cope with the loss of a family member, and the questions why and how to deal with it. From there we zoom out from the microcosm of rural family life to the birth of the universe and back again to change perspectives and put things in relation. At the heart of it all is the conflict between grace, the life of love and acceptance and the way of nature which only pleases itself. In that sense Malick's work as a whole is desperately in search of a viewer who joins him on the journey to find identity and meaning, just like the characters themselves.

Back in the days, in 1968 to be precise, when someone else tried a philosophical approach in a movie, it was not received well at all, resulting in walkouts and complaints about a lacking narrative structure and no entertainment value whatsoever. That movie was "2001" - now considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. Douglas Trumbull once was mastermind of the visual effects that made "2001" an unforgettable experience, and in 2011 he joined Malick's endeavor. Well, the beauty of these shots shows. And as far as I'm concerned, history may as well repeat itself.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0

Unconventional, unique, devastating, beautiful - an enthralling dance with the devil
The dance with the devil based on novelist László Krasznahorkai's novel about the aftermath of the fall of communism for sure has to rank very high up when it gets to unconventional motion pictures. Filmed in beautiful black and white by Hungarian director Béla Tarr in the early Nineties, the movie consists of twelve parts and lasts seven and a half hours with single tracking shots up to ten minutes, often with very little or only repetitive action on screen. And it rains and rains and rains. Make no mistake: Despite its length Satantango is not an epic narration, but rather achieves long lasting impressions by pointing the camera on banalities inspired by the bleakness of the scenery, perfectly enhanced by the director's choices what to show and how to show it in order to induce a trance-like reaction in the viewer. And while doing so Satantango mesmerizes, shocks, devastates, enthralls.

The time line is a bit unclear and episodes overlap or could have happened the same way at another time. Yet there is a main thread of story about a con-man in the messiah's disguise, a seemingly eternally lasting dance in the very middle, and an essential episode about a little girl representing the core of the film - a symbol of the disillusionment and victim of betrayal, desperately searching for ways to exert some power herself in her forlorn reality. Not that much is happening in Satantango, and some things remain vague, but reality is also transcended at key points adding to the allegorical impact. The aesthetics of the experience and its ultimate conclusion will remain with those who are open for it.

Watch excerpt here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2APi0cTYY

An audacious look into Hollywood film making and its victims
"Sunset Blvd." is a film about obsession, opportunism and the rise and fall of stars and writers as cogs in the remorseless movie making machine of the Hollywood dream factory. The great Billy Wilder as the director, William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim as the principal actors, get their point across so brilliantly in a movie about movie making that it hurts. One of the reasons why it works so well is that "Sunset Blvd." is fiction placed in the real Hollywood, where references are explicitly sought, not hidden: Star director Cecil B. DeMille plays himself, "movie zombies" of times past like Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson have roles equivalent to their importance as movie stars at the time the film was shot, even former celebrated actor/director Erich von Stroheim pretty much plays himself. This lends the film authenticity and weight, sometimes a comedic or an unabashedly cynical touch, but more often revealing shockingly tragic insights in an all too common parallel universe celebrities use to live in - insights that have not lost any relevance to this day: Once caught in a dream world it's difficult to see through the haze of glory and notice that impending doom is just a step away...

It was an audacious concept of Billy Wilder to target the film industry within its own medium, right there at those very sound stages where usually the blockbusters were made to rake in the big money and produce celebrities on conveyor belts. The direct assault that "Sunset Blvd." represents for sure did NOT get Wilder the Oscar for Best Picture of 1951. Well, this one has survived them all nevertheless and turned into a timeless classic. It's a film that transcended the Hollywood machinery - well informed, impeccably written by Charles Brackett and Wilder himself, full of verve, innuendo and dark humor, directed with technical proficiency and sense of great storytelling. An ultimate film-experience in the literal sense.

Watch trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYqUpV_B-A

Paradisiacal cinema? - Tornatore did it!
If you love movies you owe it yourself to see "Cinema Paradiso" made by the Sicilian director Giuseppe Tornatore. It contains about everything that the cinema is about (or maybe better: once was), and more. Tornatore also wrote the screenplay for this film and it can be felt throughout that the material comes from his heart, drawing from own experiences and those related to him - the director even has a cameo appearance as a projectionist in the final minutes. "Cinema Paradiso" is as powerful as it is not only because of its topic, the direction and the screenplay, but also because of its scope - spanning the whole lifetime of the main character -, its memorable imagery, Ennio Morricone's brilliant score and of course the carefully chosen cast headed by Philippe Noiret. By the way: Even grandmaster Fellini might have made it into the movie, intended for the role of the mentioned projectionist at the very end. But he replied to the director's request: "At such an important part of the movie putting a face so bulky like mine could be distracting to the audience. I suggest an unknown person instead: Let Tornatore do it!" Well, so we've still got a master of cinema up there at least - the one who made "Cinema Paradiso".

To sum it up: Here we have not just any film about the cinema, it's the definitive one - and in the 50 minutes longer director's cut an already great experience becomes perfect. If you are reading reviews like this and still haven't seen it, you better finish this sentence and then be off to get it. Quick!

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2-GX0Tltgw

Approach with care... don't forget your bolts!
Tarkovsky's second science fiction entry after "Solaris" needs to be approached with a good deal of caution - just like the protagonist navigating the zone with his metal bolts in order to reach his goal, that fabled room which grants your innermost wish. There's danger lurking everywhere, but in the zone's inner sanctum there is bliss waiting - or not, depending on what you want to get out of it. For sure "Stalker" is not the regular sci-fi tale, even though it was inspired by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's novel "Roadside Picnic", who also co-wrote the film's script. Yet Tarkovsky made something entirely different out of the material: a slow, contemplative, philosophical excursion of almost religious proportions consisting of extremely long takes. "Stalker" is a mood piece as if it had descended from another world, the zone we enter is shot in lush colors, life outside in drab black and white. In this spellbinding composition an enigma is wrapped which has prevailed until this very day...

So what exactly is "Stalker" all about? Some might say: Clearly an allegory about life in the USSR. An interpretation which Tarkovsky vehemently denied, even though there's strong subtext one can hardly ignore. On the other hand the zone of "Roadside Picnic" was inspired by the nuclear disaster in Chelyabinsk of 1957 - and after Chernobyl Tarkovsky's 1979 film feels like a foreshadowing and a déjà vu at the same time. And due to its unique place between history and fiction "Stalker" sparkles with a rare kind of magic. Aside from references to nuclear catastrophes there are also numerous religious allusions put in the film, most dominant being the repeated hints at the stalker's messianic role, even though he's just a human like everyone else, who refuses to walk the path. Discussions between the main characters circle around belief and hope, freedom and purpose in life, and poetry and metaphysics wait just around the corner to knock on your door and haunt or enlighten your dreams. Well, say, what do you believe in? Approach with care... and don't forget your bolts!

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM_GOpfEQUw

Roads go ever, ever on
Bringing the lessons learned from Italian neo-realism to Indian filmmaking, Satyajit Ray's first project was part one of what would become the famous "Apu" trilogy, "Pather Panchali" ("Song of the Little Road", 1955). Undoubtedly it laid the foundation of Ray's status as a cultural Indian icon. In neo-realistic fashion the three films were made on actual locations using an amateur cast, shot as close to reality as possible, and due to this approach they show all the unvarnished truths but also the charms found only on the street, addressing life itself. Direct, plain and simple the contained episodes shed light on poverty, anguish, loss and the unending struggle of man to justify his very own existence, the trials and tribulations to transcend one's self and the world one was born in. Central to the continuing story of all films is Apu, a coming of age Bengali boy with the bleakest imaginable prospects. His long journey takes him to many different places, nowhere he is truly at home except in books, and yet despite all that he's contended with the simplest things. But in all the ordeals he has to suffer from there's always a glimpse of hope, an impulse to go on. Until he reaches a dead end...

Years after "Pather Panchali" and part two "Aparajito" ("The Unvanquished") Ray's conclusion of the series via "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu") is emotionally the strongest of the three installments. It already starts off with the weight of the first two films on the protagonist's shoulders, lets the now mature Apu question everything he has come to believe in and steers inevitably towards his destiny. Ray has also perfected his directorial techniques in the meantime, and the choices of actors to play an older and finally adult Apu are spot on. Rarely before has poetical realism been so devastatingly beautiful than in this jewel of Indian filmmaking, the pictures often speak for themselves. Like the recurring symbolic image of a train that accompanies us throughout the trilogy: first as something magical, then adventurous, even deadly. And it's there in the very last scene as well - as a reminder that roads go ever, ever on. And all a road requires is a first step.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCnABec7Rsk

Rebel with a cause - McMurphy vs. Nurse Ratched
Very few great films are just simple and straightforward, require no brain-twisting abilities from the viewer, can be enjoyed by practically anyone and have an inevitable impact that resonates deeply. Also one rarely finds films that are entertaining, dramatic, humorous, tragic and poetic all at the same time and on top of that have something to say which doesn't sound moralising. If you're looking for a picture which meets all those requirements "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" fits the bill.

Awarded in 1975 with the magic five oscars covering all main categories (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) it is one of the most effective antiestablishment parables which takes place in a mental hospital, where sane but rebellious Jack Nicholson as R.P. McMurphy fights Nurse Ratched's (Louise Fletcher) authoritarian regime. The two main characters play so well off each other that one almost forgets the rest of the brilliant cast, among them Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito or the young Brad Dourif, but also not to forget the Native American Will Sampson. All of these inmates work well, because the actors were cast to play roles cut out for them. A flawless screenplay guarantees to be instantly drawn into the world created by Czech born director Milos Forman, and our sympathies soon lie with these characters, especially free spirit McMurphy. Yet sometimes the fight for the right thing is a lost cause from the get-go. We might even be aware of it. However, we learn from characters like McMurphy that - flawed as we are - we can have the heart at the right place, even against the odds. And that there's hope in every failure.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WSyJgydTsA

The samurai - the way of Alain Delon
Who is he? It doesn't matter. What does he want? To kill someone. Enough said. A man, a mission, few words. That's the way of the samurai. One downside only: There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai. Unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle. Perhaps. - Scenes and impressions from a piece of film history that spells cool, en français. The part of the eponymous "Samourai" is played by Alain Delon, born with stoicism in his blood, directed and written by Jean-Pierre Melville, who sucked in American film noir to live and breathe it as a person and to be creative with it as a true auteur. He shot noirs in color in French that made the archetype look old. A loner, a man with a mission, a samurai in a way.

One could describe "Le Samourai", a 1967 picture, perhaps as the exact antithesis of the films we are used to see from video generation directors that emerged in full in the late eighties. What you won't experience here is adrenaline pumping fast pace, flashy quick cuts, slow motion sequences, car chases, spectacular stunts, explosions, yes, even blood is rather scarce in a film about a hitman. Frankly, all of that is superfluous if the filmmaker knows his craft on how to get the viewer involved in his picture. Contrary to the constant pay-offs as part of a kaleidoscopic spectacle of action that dominate the screens at the latest from the nineties, the secrets of "Le Samourai" are simple, but effective: Delon's iconic screen presence, a uniquely created mood based on existential fatalism, a lot of build-up and perfect timing to release tension. In short: What we have here is an epitome of minimalistic suspense cinema. The assassin himself, Jef Costello, despite the fact that Delon plays him straight and stone-faced is no invulnerable killer machine, quite the opposite. And that's also where the story lies - that something goes terribly wrong, but somehow someone helps. Quite unexpectedly actually. On the other hand: There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai...

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0XYssIlbo

Dystopic retro-future with a message: Tomorrow was another day
Despite shot in 1985 this is definitely a 1984 film. But you probably know that already. Actually - to be precise - it's quite a timeless movie well worth watching a century later as well, as it aims to mix things from past, present and future, or you might even call it an alternate reality piece - as according to the first shot this film takes place "somewhere in the 20th century"... And thus it might be closer to reality than you initially thought!

Be it as it may: The look of the strange retro-future world we're allowed to discover in "Brazil" is truly something else. Gilliam's dystopic vision combines dead serious elements from Orwell and Kafka and lets it all clash with a heavy dose of Monty Python humor, sometimes satirical, sometimes anarchically absurd, deep black or just outright laugh out loud slapstick. The story at times might surprise you, irritate you, make you laugh, dream, root for Sam Lowry, then again it also does shock and terrify, it lets you think and re-think. "Brazil" has depth, is allegorical and complex, and could therefore have too much of an impact on first viewing for its own good - or it perhaps touches you not at all if you're not into cerebral stuff. If you like a challenge, this one's a treat - just make sure to watch the Director's cut and not the butchered version released for syndicated television, which is a travesty of the movie's original intent.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqtUI4XfhMM

Trapped in the simulacrum between life and death
One thing right ahead: Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is an extremely uncomfortable film. It is likely not to make much sense the first time around, that you are too busy taking it all in and your efforts to understand it get derailed. Many will end up repelled by the experience and don't feel the desire to return to it. Subsequent viewings however should help to value the gargantuan task Kaufman has undertaken and to look forward to further visits to that strange place called "Synecdoche". Make no mistake: This is no love story, much less a happy one, not a tale about someone succeeding or get rewarded by any kind of redemption. There are images which seem too trivial to be part of a cinematic masterpiece, and you'll wonder about the surreality of some scenes and the layers upon layers that stack up. But getting into the film and getting out of it again only can be accomplished with difficulty. And that's a good thing.

On the surface "Synecdoche" is about theater director Caden Cotard (understatedly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose life more and more slips out of his hands and literally rushes by in the film's narrative. An unexpected award gives him the chance to attempt something big, and so he builds a simulacrum, a life-size replica of New York, casting people to play roles in it in order to replace the persons of his life. But the simulacrum is not enough, and while he tries everything and then some in his struggle to find a sure footing, a proof of his existence between life and death, he turns out to be nothing else than the ultimate victim of his limitations. Caden's story is about the loss of himself in the imitations he created, yet miraculously this sad life eventually becomes part of something larger by just fading away. For watchers will notice a deliberately designed circular structure of the film... One could even argue that Caden might just be a character in a film, and longing for a life outside. Up to you! Make sure to watch "Synecdoche" more than once. And maybe at some point you'll learn to smile along with this postmodern masterpiece.

Watch trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIizh6nYnTU