So I thought it would be fun to do this, and look forward to comments and other's lists. These are obviously comments based on films I have seen. If you want to make comments against then please do so. I do this enterprise from the joy I have for film, and the knowledge I have gained from doing film studies and watching thousands of films over the years. I will do it in reverse order, but if you know me well, you may be able to guess the order. So here goes:
At number nine, we have a classic Steven Spielberg film. You may think to start questioning the validity of it position in any top ten films. However, I should remind you of the absolutely near perfect script this film has. Written in part by both the author Benchley and the director Spielberg. It marinades many superbly cast characters in the roles and draws out a Hitchcockian type play that, in many respects, needs no visible villain as the suspense and mystery is all contained in the human roles. Dreyfuss and Schneider are excellent, and I still believe if it wasn't for the Hollywood Academy's dislike to the movie brats this film would have clinched an Oscar. In Hitckcock fashion, and through technical reasons the shark is seldom seen, but doesn't distract you from the terror and suspense of living on a small island with the fear of a man-eating predator out to sea. So many good performances, so many good actors, so many good scenes its hard to know where to start. Even if you don't like scary movie or blood and guts this is a must, even just for the character interaction.
Spielberg's partner in crime, George Lucas, made this film. It wasn't his first, but it made such an impact on the film industry and the genre of sci-fi that it needs to be included. I can still remember the day in 1977 when I queued on my birthday to see it. It was the first time I had ever seen a line extend so far to see a film. To this day it is the film I have seen the most; over 60+ viewings. Looking back on the film you can see many a flaw in the acting and the special effects, but one thing holds true. In the style of "The Magnificent Seven" Lucas has managed to take a master Japanese story line (The Hidden Fortress) and convert it to an American market with great style and magic. I remember seeing a cartoon of two old people. One says to the other, "We must be the only people who haven't seen Star Wars". The old guy then shoots the old lady and says "Now I'm the only one!" It must be true. This film must be the most watched film of all time. Its story and dream-like feeling of good against evil has the same emotional magic that Disney was able to catch in his movies. And as Disney himself said; "It is for the kid inside all of us."
Quite a modern film on the list. This is a film that would probably have slipped by my radar if it wasn't for the fact that I saw an interview with Dench and Spacey on British TV. I remembered it and many years later saw the cover on an internet site. I instantly bought it for two reasons. First, it has Kevin Spacey in it, secondly a love for the wilderness and a strange connection I felt toward a small fishing village I used to visit as a kid. To say this film is a romantic piece of genius is an understatement. What director Lasse Hallström has managed to do, is to combine the simplicity of love into a story of people's difficulties and how they overcome all these difficulties. It is funny, it is sad, and most of all it is real. The landscape and slowness may not appeal to many, but the beautiful acting and surreal nature of some of the dialogue make you love and enjoy this movie in a way that can only touch upon your own heart. I place it in my top ten, as I have goose bumps thinking about it's emotional impact in such a simple, but pure way.
A film about a piano player! Wow, you think. How interesting could that be. If I say however, that people have dreams and they sometimes struggle to achieve then and one such story is of David Helfgott, then you will still wonder about this film. It is about a boy. A piano genius, who through trial and torture made his way to become a true talent. Then by fate this was taken away. His senses were destroyed and all that remained was his ability to make beautiful music on the ivory keyboard. To say this film is touching and sensitive would say that if you had a heart and didn't feel anything for the true life character then you should check for a pulse. Knowing that the story was based on the true life of David Helfgott makes the magic and beauty of it even more captivating. Art is such an emotive and passionate subject that knowing this is the only way to communicate and that by doing so makes people heads and hearts turn to its warmth is truly amazing. To see that a film-maker like Scott Hicks was able to capture that was also a good reason for his recognition. Another must.
Have three films in my top ten from a foreign language genre. This is the first and really is two films. I combined them as they are from a set of two novels by Marcel Pagnol. The two films, even though could be viewed together can also be seen separately. You may have started to see a pattern in my choices here. Most of the films are about sentiment. The human heart. The trials that people go through to succeed and the honest of being a pure human. This is a torturous film, in the sense it is about suffering. Not in any grand visual fashion, but of the soul, and of the heart. Again, it has been masterfully cast, and Gérard Depardieu could not have been changed for any better actor for this role. He plays a hunchback accountant who give his life up to move to a wilderness village in France to make a new life for his family. His beautiful daughter and ex-singer wife support him fully. There is much hardship, but this character Jean is a man of honour and pride. He will not give up, even unknowing to him, his dreams were being thwarted by two rotten villages trying to make his land worthless in order to take the only water source away from him. This film and Manon des Source are visually a picture postcard on every shot. Claude Berri is a true genius with the camera, however, the value to this film is to look deep into oneself and see what truly is important. Not to view the differences in people, but to see the struggle we all have in life. True beauty.
Now, I saw this film some twenty years ago as part of my film studies class. To say it made a mark on my would be an understatement. I have been looking for this film to buy for that same twenty odd years. Luckily I have found it, and it sits proudly in my collection. I can't see any reason why everyone's top ten should have at least one Kurosawa film in it. But this one should rank high. In fact it was Kurosawa own favourite among his own films. The title itself means 'Joy of Life'. It tells of an ill-fated bureaucrat who finds after many years of efficient service that he is to die from cancer. He then looks back at his industrious career with regret to see that he has not truly served the people in his community. As one last act of kindness he plans to go against the bureaucracy of his job to convert some old waste land into a playground for children. Many fear for his sanity, as he goes against his normal nature. He begins to live again. He becomes determined and succeeds eventually. As an epitaph, the colleagues and friends gather and realise that he has transcended from the nasty bureaucrat to the humble human being that decided that life was worth living, and he could not do this himself then he would give that life as a true legacy to the proceeding generation. Magic is magical in this film. An old black and white, but full of movie magic. Beautiful.
This would be my number one, if the other two films hadn't come on the scene some years later. To believe someone could pen a script that would change, affect and influence so many people would be unbelievable unless you have seen it for yourself. Again, like many of the films listed her, it relies on good casting. James Stewart must be one of my favourite actors. I have never seen him in anything bad. This, however, must be his true performance and with the help of Capra, has become a legendary film. It is one of two film that make tears fall on each and every showing. It is a film that all humans should watch. As it is a film about being human. About the same statement I made from yesterdays blog; that all people have a worth. George Bailey seems to fail at everything. Even though he gets his dream girl and all seems to work in his favour, life simply doesn't provide his dream. He feels let down and wants more. When his life affects others, as his business fails he wishes himself dead. He is given the rare chance to see what life is like without him around. Only then does he understand that it isn't the big marks one makes on life that count it is that everything in one's life counts to someone else. without that importance someone else suffers. The beauty and magic of this film has made it beloved by many. It is a true tear jerker. have handkerchiefs ready and your emotions primed. I can bet anyone to admit not to cry not one single tear during this film, and thanks to Stewart.
I can remember to this day, walking out of the cinema after watching this film and knowing it would be the award winner that year. And no surprise it did. I am not really saying there is an extra recognition for receiving an Oscar, but it marked a significant understanding to its power as a movie that had tried to regain an almost forgotten genre. Based loosely on the works of Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (by the way, is a book that almost any sensitive person should read) it follows the pioneering exploits of an American Army Lieutenant, who after a failed suicide attempt wishes for the wilderness. Fearless, but unprepared he goes to the remotest outposts and lives with his wits and a stray coyote. Slowly he befriends a tribe of Native Americans. Who in term find him an unknown commodity. Through their relationship they come to see the values of each others cultures, but more so Dunbar (Kevin Costner). I have always had and interest in Native American culture and luckily have found a connection in a very good friend. Knowing of their purity in life and their total social ways I can only wonder why they were destroyed, the way they were. Man takes beauty and replaces it with ugliness. The film, has made an impact on me. How I see people, who I wish to treat people, and even in the same cinematic reason that 'Jean de Florette' has an on screen beauty, so does this film. The music by Williams and the photography has been one key reason to want to visit the beauty that hides inside America.
Number one! The one that stands out among the rest. Now, if you haven't seen this film, you may tend not to agree. Why would you, you would not have experienced what cinema is about. Film is about dreams, about magic, about love and fear. It is about overcoming and understanding, but more than anything it is about simplicity. This film steps or dances along on a simple story of one grown man's memory of a cinema. It is not a quest, and adventure. It is not magic or mystery. What it is, is a series of memories that become a magical tale of love, life and somehow regret. The young Toto, played beautifully by Jacques Perrin, begins a magical adventure through the same media that portrays him; film. His love for that media befriends the local projectionist and through their extreme generational differences bring knowledge and life and wonder to not only their lives, but the lives of the people watching the film. Again it is funny, sad, moving, emotive and any other feeling that what cinema should bring. This is the other film that makes me cry on each and every viewing. So much so I find it hard to watch unless I am alone. However, it is a beauty of foreign cinema. You must look upon this film with the naive innocence of the main character and see your own dream, your own memories and to know that those experiences are what life is simply about; living. The young Toto returns to the cinema the day it is demolished and this bring back all those strong feelings of the past. Of his friend the projectionist, but above all, it draws attention to a forgot love. The most perfect love that even Shakespeare could not of told more beautifully or tragically. I nominate this as my best film ever. Not even close has another film come and I can't ever see challenging this position. Please see it if you haven't, as it may make you into a better person. Why? Because the child we are born as disappears inside us as we grow. It shouldn't and this is a mistake we all make. It can be found and lived and help us understand the beauty of living. This film makes you see that. Thank you Giuseppe Tornatore.
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