FAVORITE FILMS AND GROUPS OF FILMS (SINCE 1945)
Favorite Prolific Directors whose movies I see repeatedly
1. Ingmar Bergman
(Swedish). My favorite
director. A baker’s dozen of delicacies from a long list: Smiles of a
Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Virgin
Spring (1960), Through A Glass Darkly (1961), Persona (1966), Shame (1968), The
Passion of Anna (1969), , Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage
(1973), The Magic Flute (1974), Autumn Sonata (1978), Fanny and Alexander
(1983).
2. Federico Fellini (Italian).
A dozen particular favorites: Variety Lights (1950), The White Sheik
(1951), I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada
(1954), Nights of Cabiria (1957), La Dolce Vita
(1960), 8 1/2 (1963), Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Amarcord
(1974), City of Women (1981), And the Ship Sails On (1984), Ginger and Fred
(1986). Less so his
spectacle movies, Satyricon, Clowns, Roma, et.al. (from the early
1970s).
3. Francois Truffaut (French).
A dozen particular favorites: 400 Blows (1959), Shoot the Piano Player
(1960), Jules and Jim (1961), The Bride Wore Black (1966), Fahrenheit 451
(1966), The Wild Child (1970), Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (1972), Day for
Night (1973), Story of Adele H (1975), Small Change (1976), The Last Metro
(1980), The Woman Next Door (1981).
4. Woody Allen
(American). Not quite in this class, but
who is? He’s here just because he’s
brought me consistent pleasure over the years.
A bunch of the most inspired of his continually engaging works are: Take
the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Sleeper (1973), Annie Hall (1977),
Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979), Zelig (1983),
Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her
Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Husbands and
Wives (1992), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and Deconstructing Harry (1997).
(Some readers of this list will go no further, will
get off the train at this woody station!)
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A Dozen Directors who have made at least five movies I like a lot
(alphabetical).
1. Atom Egoyan (Canadian). Adjuster, Exotica, Family Viewing,
Speaking Parts, Sweet Hereafter.
2.
3. Akira Kurosawa
(Japanese). Ikiru, Kagemusha,
Ran, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood. Others.
4. Barry Levinson
(American). Avalon, Diner, Good Morning
5. Louis Malle (French).
6. Dennis Potter
(English), though done for television originally, his greatest of all TV films
are as good as any movies ever made. Cold Lazarus, Karaoke, Lipstick on My
Collar, Pennies from Heaven, and Singing Detective.
7. Eric Rohmer
(French). Almost in my
first category. No great
movie. A score of
consistently witty, grown-up, conversational tales, strictly for grownups.
Never a bad one.
Most famous are Claire’s Knee and My Night at Maud’s, but they are no
better than the lesser knowns like The Aviator’s
Wife, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, Chloe in the Afternoon, Full Moon in Paris,
Green Flash, Le Beau Mariage, Pauline at the Beach,
Tale of Springtime, et. al.
8. Martin Scorsese
(American). Age of
Innocence, Casino, Color of Money, Goodfellas, King
of Comedy, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver. Others.
9. Bertrand Tavernier (French). Clockmaker, Coup de Torchon, Daddy
Nostalgia, Life and Nothing But, Round Midnight, Sunday in the Country. Others.
10. The operatic Taviani Brothers
(Italian). Fiorile, Good Morning
11. Lars Von Trier (Danish). Breaking the Waves, The
Kingdom, The Kingdom (Part Two), Medea, Zentropa.
12. Zhang Yimou
(Chinese). Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern,,
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Another Bigger Batch of post-World War II directors whose movies I very
much admire I’ve divided these by
nationality, just to see who wins my Film Olympics. I’ve also added in (in
parentheses) the directors above, so as to make the game fair. Final note:
while many directors have made a fine movie or two, I was interested in those
who had produced a body of work and passed some sort of test of time.
American (17)
Robert Altman
Coen Brothers
Francis Ford Coppola
Jonathan Demme
John Huston
Jim Jarmusch
Spike Lee
Sidney Lumet
David Mamet
Errol Morris
Mike Nichols
John Sayles
Steven Spielberg
Orson Welles
Woody Allen (above)
Barry Levinson (above)
Martin Scorcese (above)
Hapa-American (4)
James Ivory (Anglo-American)
Wayne Wang (Chinese-American)
Billy Wilder (Hungarian-American)
French (13)
Robert Bresson
Claude Chabrol
Diane Kurys
Marcel Ophuls
Maurice Pialat
Alain Resnais
Claude Sautet
Andre Techine
Agnes Varda
Louis Malle (above)
Eric Rohmer (above)
Bertrand Tavernier (above)
Francois Truffaut (above)
English (14)
Michael Apted
Terence Davies
Stephen Frears
Peter Greenaway
Alfred Hitchcock
David Lean
Mike Leigh
Mike Newell
Michael Powell
Tony Richardson
John Schlesinger
Dennis Potter (above)
Kenneth Branagh (below)
Laurence Olivier (below)
Irish (3)
Neil Jordan
Pat O’Connor
Jim Sheridan
Italian (9)
Bernardo Bertolucci
Vittorio De Sica
Ettore Scola
Giuseppe Tornatore
Luchino Visconti
Lina Wertmuller
Federico Fellini (above)
Taviani Brothers (above)
Franco Zeffirelli (below)
Japanese (5)
Shohei Imamura
Juzo Itami
Kenji Mizoguchi
Yasujiro Ozu
Akira Kurosawa (above)
German (6)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Werner Herzog
Volker Schlondorff
Barbet Schroeder
Margarethe von Trotta
Wim Wenders
Chinese (2)
Ang Lee
Zhang Yimou (above)
Spanish (2)
Pedro Almodovar
Luis Bunuel
Russian (2)
Nikita Mikhalkov
Andrei Tarkovsky
Scandinavian (3)
Bille August (Swedish)
Ingmar Bergman (Swedish--above)
Lars Von Trier (Danish--above)
Jane Campion (
Peter Weir (Australian)
Agniewska Holland (Polish)
Krzysztof Kieslowski (Polish)
Istvan Szabo
(Hungarian)
Andrej Wajda
(Polish)
Roman Polanski (Polish--below)
Canadian (1)
Atom Egoyan (above)
Abbas Kiarostami
Satyajit Ray
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The
Feast of Great Shakespeare movies.
I’m sure W.S. would have loved to have been a
movie director (of his own scripts, of course) The fact that there are so many
wonderful Shakespeare movies may attest to that. I think many of these must be included on any
all-time great movie ranking.
Those made by Laurence Olivier: Henry V (1945), Hamlet
(1948), Richard III (1955), and his amazing King Lear (made for TV in
1985). Olivier’s obvious successor is
Kenneth Branagh: particularly his very different
Henry V (1985), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), and
Hamlet (1996). Other excellent and
sometimes remarkably daring Shakespeare versions are: Kurosawa’s Japanese
versions of Macbeth (Throne of Blood--1957) and Lear (Ran--1985), Roman Polanski’s weird Macbeth (1971), Orson Welles’
Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952), and his extraordinary consolidation of the
Falstaff plays known as Chimes at Midnight (1966). I also like Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) and his under-rated
Hamlet (with Mel Gibson--1990). Finally two recent, exciting, and relatively
overlooked beauties: Ian McKellen’s Richard III
(1995, dir. Richard Loncraine) and Trevor Nunn’s
Twelfth Night (1996).
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Some TV Favorites,
Long Series
Many of the best fictional works to appear on celluloid in
the past 25 years have been written or adapted specifically for TV. The best of these, in my opinion, have been
series that have been too lengthy for commercial cinematic release. Though some have been originally written for
television, e.g. Dennis Potter’s works, most have been spacious adaptations of
works of literature. They represent a
barely recognized new art form, and at their best are simply stunning. Though some critics put
down this genre as “costume drama,” that’s silly and a bit like classifying
Dostoevsky’s novels as “murder stories.” Quality may not speak for
itself, but it does make some noise. They all happen to be English, unless
otherwise noted. In TV, BBC and
In addition
to Potter’s works (above), I sunk into: I, Claudius; Brideshead
Revisited; Jewel in the Crown; Upstairs Downstairs; The Forsyte
Saga; The “Sherlock Holmes” series (with Jeremy Brett); The “Prime Suspect”
series; Barchester Towers; The Pallisers
(the last two are adaptations of Trollope); Smiley’s
People; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Pride and Prejudice (the 1996 version with
Colin Firth); Middlemarch; Our Mutual Friend; The “Cracker” series (not the
American version, which isn’t bad, but the original British version); The
Golden Bowl; Crime and Punishment; not to mention the dozens of hours of Monty
Python’s Flying Circus and of Fawlty Towers! Four impressive German
epics are
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FILMS TO SEE FROM 1998
Arguing the World;
Belly Up (Brazilian); The Big Lebowski (Coens); Big One (M. Moore); The Break (Irish); Brigands,
Chapter VII (Georgian); Buffalo ‘66; Butcher Boy (Neil Jordan); Character
(Dutch); Cosmos (French/6:1); Dark City; Dangerous Beauty; The Dress (Dutch);
Everest (IMAX); Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano); Full Speed (French); Four Days in
September (Brazilian); Frozen (dark Chinese); Funny Games (German/sadistic);
Genealogies of a Crime (Un grand cri d’amour) [Ruiz/Deneuve]; Gingerbread Man (Altman); Gonin
(Japanese); Great Expectations; I Love You . . . Don’t Touch Me; I Think I Do;
James Ellroy (docu);
Kissing a Fool; Kitchen Party (Canadian); Leading Man (UK); Leila
(Iranian); Little Dieter Needs to Fly
(Werner Herzog/docu); Live Flesh (Almodovar);
Men With Guns (Sayles); Mendel (Norwegian); Mojo
(UK); Moon Over Broadway (Pennebaker); Mrs. Dalloway;
Newton Boys (Linklater); Nil By Mouth (G.Oldman); Notes From Underground (Czerny/Dostoyevsky);
Oyster and the Wind (Brazilian); A Paralyzing Fear (Polio docu);
Paul Monette (AIDS docu); Pereira Declares (“Sostiene
Pereira”/Mastroianni); A Personal Journey With Martin
Scorcese Through American Movies; A Price Above
Rubies (Hasidics); Primary Colors; Public Housing
(Wiseman); The Real Blonde (DiCillo); See the Sea
(French/52mins.); Secrets of the Heart (Spanish); Smoke Signals (Cheyenne); Sonatine (Kitano); Spanish Prisoner (Mamet);
Stolen Moments (Lesb. docu/Canadian);
Twentyfourseven (UK/Hoskins); Twilight (Newman);
Under the Skin (UK); Village of Dreams (Japanese); Western (French); Who The
Hell Is Juliette (Cuban).
Fine French films shown only at the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema series in NY in March,
generally unreleased in the U.S.: Alors Voila (Piccoli); Bat Out of Hell (J’irai
au paradis car l’enfer est ici); The Bet (Le Pari); Big Scream of Love (Balasko);
A Brother (Un Frere);
Dry Cleaning (Nettoyage a sec); Ma 6-T Va Cracker; Marius et Jeannette; Reprise; Seventh Heaven
(Le septieme ciel) [Jacquot]; What’s So Funny About Me (Je
ne vois ce
qu’on me trouve) [11].
Swedish Cinema series in NY in March,
generally unreleased in the
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FILMS TO SEE FROM 1997
Absolute Power-4; Afterglow; Alive and Kicking (UK); All Over
Me; All Things Fair (Widerberg); Amistad;
Angel Baby (Australian)-8; Anna Karenina(?); The
Apartment (French); Apostle (Duvall)-8; As Good As It Gets;
Austin Powers; Bandwagon; Bean; Birth of Love (French); Beaumarchais: The Scoundrel-7;
Blood & Wine; Bolshe Vita (Hungarian); Boogie Nights-8; Box of Moonlight (DiCillo);
Boxer; Brassed Off (Postlethwaite);
Breakdown; Brilliant Lies (Australian)-6; Broken English
(NZ-Croat); Brothers in Trouble (UK/Pakistanis); Cafe Society-6;
Camp Stories; Capitaine Conan (Tavernier); Career Girls (Leigh)-8; Chasing Amy (Clerks dir.); Chef in Love (French-Georgian)-8;
Children of the Revolution (Stalin/JDavis); A Chorus
of Disapproval (Ayckbourn/1989); Cold
Lazarus (Dennis Potter-2)-8;Conspirators
of Pleasure (Svankmajer); Cosi
(Australian); A Couch in New York (C. Akerman); Crash (Cronenberg)-2; Critical Care (Lumet); Daytrippers-8; Dead Heart (Australian); Deconstructing Harry (Woody)-9; Designated Mourner (WShawn); Destiny (Egyptian)?; Devil’s Advocate?; Diary of a Seducer (French)-8; Different For Girls
(UK/transsexual); Donnie Brasco; Eighteenth (Danish);
English, August (Hindi); East Side Story
(Communist musicals)-6;
The Edge (Mamet); End of Violence (Wenders); Eve’s Bayou; Eye of God; Face/Off [action]; Fairy Tale: A True Story; Family Name (docu); Fast, Cheap,
and Out of Control (Errol Morris)-8;
Father’s Day (Williams/Crystal); Female Perversions (TSwinton);
Fierce Creatures (Cleese); Foreign Land (Brazilian);
Forgotten Silver (NZ); Four Little Girls (SpLee docu); Frank and Ollie (animation hist);
Full Monty (UK); Gabbeh
(Iranian); Gattaca; Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant); Gray’s Anatomy (Spalding); Gridlock’d
(Roth/Shakur); Grosse Point Blank; Guantanamera (Cuban)-7; Hamsun (Troell);
Hana-Bi (Japanese); Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai)-1; Hard Eight; Hollow Reed (UK)-7; Hotel de Love
(Australian)-2; ); House
of Yes; Ice Storm (Ang
Lee)-8; I Magi Randagi (We Free Kings); In and Out-8; In
the Company of Men; In the Heat of the Sun (Chinese); Innocent Sleep (?)[Gambon]; Intimate Relations (UK); Jackie Brown; Johns (M’nite C’boys); Kama Sutra; Keep Cool
(Zhang Yimou)-3;
Kingdom, Part 2 (Lars Von Trier); Karaoke (Dennis Potter-1)-8; Kiss Me, Guido; Kiss
or Kill (Australian)-8;
Kissed (Canadian); Kundun; L.A. Confidential; L’Appat (Tavernier)-8; La Vie de Jesus; Latin Boys Go to Hell; Liar Liar (JCarrey); Licensed to Kill
(gays/docu); A Life Apart; Hasidism in America;
Lilies (Canadian); Lisbon Story (Wenders); Little
Angel (German); Long Way Home (Holocaust docu); Lost Highway (DLynch)-3; Love and Death on Long
Island; Love Serenade (Australian); Love! Valour!
Compassion!; Ma Vie En Rose; Mad City (Costa-Gavras);
Marcello Mastroianni, I Remember; Margaret’s Museum (Nova Scotia)-7; Men in Black; Moebius (Argentine); Molom
(Mongolian); Mon Homme? (Blier);
Mondo (French/gypsy); Mondo
Plympton; Mongolian Tale; Mother and Son (Russian);
Mrs. Brown; My Mother’s Courage (German/Verhoeven);
The Mouse; Nenette et Boni
(C. Denis); Night Falls On Manhattan-? (Lumet);
Nothing Personal (Belfast); O Amore Natural (Brazilian/docu);
Oscar and Lucinda; Other Voices, Other Rooms (Capote); Out of the Present (USSR
docu)?; Peacemaker;
Pillow Book (Greenaway)-8; Ponette-8;
Portland (Danish); Post Coitum (Brigitte Rouan); Quiet Room (Australian); Pretty Village, Pretty
Flame (Serbo-Croatian); Prisoner of the
Mountains (Russian)-8; Public
Housing (Wiseman); Rainmaker (Coppola)-6; Rats in the Rank
(Aussie docu); Riding
the Rails (docu)-7;
Ripe; Ripoux Contre Ripoux; Romy and Michele’s High
School Reunion (MSorvino); Saint Clara (Israeli); Le Samourai (Melville1967); Saragossa Manuscript
(Polish); Scorpion Spring; Shall We Dance? (Japanese)-7; She’s So Lovely (N.Cassavetes); Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (docu); Singing Detective (new video of Dennis
Potter, 1989)-9; Smilla’s Sense of Snow-6; Soul in the Hole (p’ground b’ball); Sous-Sol (Canadian);
Star Maps (Mexican); Sunday (Suchet); Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)-9; Tango Lesson (Sally Potter); Tarantella (MSorvino);
Taste of Cherry (Iranian/Kiarostami); Taxi Lisboa (Portuguese); Telling Lies in America; A
Tickle in the Heart (Klezmer docu)-5; Timothy Leary’s Dead; To Have
(or Not) [French];Titanic-7; Traveler; Trial and
Error; Trojan Eddie (Irish); Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern (farm docu)-4; Twilight of the Golds-3; Twin Town (Welsh);
Ulee’s Gold; U.S. Go Home (C. Denis/1994); The Van (Frears)-7; Voyage to the Beginning
of the World (Portuguese/final Mastroianni); Wag the
Dog; Waiting for Guffman
(SpTap2)-7; Washington Square (A.Holland); Welcome to Sarajevo; When
the Cat’s Away (Klapisch)-7; Will It Snow for Christmas? (French); Wind in the Willows; Wings of the Dove-9; Winter Guest (Emma/Phyllida);
Year of the Horse (Jarmusch/N.Young); Yvonne’s
Perfume (Leconte).
NINES:
Deconstructing Harry (Woody); Singing Detective
(new video of Dennis Potter, 1989);
Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan);
Wings of the Dove. (4)
EIGHTS: Angel Baby (Australian); The Apostle (Duvall);
Boogie Nights; Career Girls (Leigh); Chef in Love (French-Georgian); Cold
Lazarus (Dennis Potter-2); Daytripper; Diary of a
Seducer (French); Fast, Cheap, and
Out of Control (Errol Morris); Ice Storm (Ang Lee);In
& Out; Karaoke (Dennis Potter-1); Kiss or Kill (Australian); L’Appat (Tavernier);
Pillow Book (Greenaway); Ponette;
Prisoner of the Mountains (Russian). (17)
Unreleased (in US), good French films: Bernie; Encore; Fallait
Pas!; L’Age des Possibles (Ferran); Marianne
(Jacquot); Parfait Amour (“Perfect Love”); Pedale Douce; Petits
Arrangements Avec les Morts (Ferran);
Portraits Chinois (“Shadow Play”/MinaTdir/Dugowson);
Pour Rire (“Just for Laughs”); Un Air de Famille (Klapisch). [11]
Unreleased (in US) from