Doing this because of the great Pablo DStair, who always gets what he wants! Fifteen Films The rules: Dont take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies youve seen that have a special meaning or always stick with you (and why). Tag fifteen friends, including me, because Im interested in seeing what my friends choose. 1. In the Mood for Love/2046 - Counting this as one because it should be watched as one. This was my introduction to Wong Kar Wai and it reshaped my brain. Its beautiful and haunting and my whole life caught up in four hours. I used to watch them every six months, though its been too long since I last watched. Time probably for a rewatch. 2. The Return - A pretty simple film thats absolutely brilliant in execution. When I discovered Andrei Zvyagintsev, I knew I had finally discovered what film was meant to be. Hes the first director I discovered who shared my vision of how important silence is in film, or how the language of film should by visual rather than vocal. 3. 3-Iron - By far the best of Kim Ki-duk, who is among the greatest and most frustrating directors around. He makes absolute masterpieces like this, but then many of his others are only interesting, and only good because hes a genius. Another beautiful, haunting, and quiet film. 4. Last Life in the Universe - Ive actually talked about this film so many times it probably doesnt even mean anything anymore when I mention it. Its the only one of Pen Ek-Rataruangs films thats really worth watching, but its so brilliant. Todonabu Asano sort of injected himself into my film life here, too. I watched this when I was like fifteen or sixteen or even fourteen, absolutely mesmerised, and even crying at this one specific scene that felt like it lasted two hours, where theyre lying on the couch and the camera just sort of hangs over them, sliding past--I got stuck there and maybe sometimes I still feel like I am. But after that, I couldnt find it for years and years, couldnt even remember the name, and then I found it again in Ireland, that scene so stuck in my head laid on the cover, and Ive watched it probably twenty times since. 5. The Good, The Bad, The Weird - This actually isnt even my favorite Kim Ji-woon film, but its definitely the most fun, and the one that sticks with you most. A Korean western where everything is just absolutely bonkers and hilarious and violent. Its sort of five films shoved into the same one, and its amazing. 6. Ran - Kurosawa has to be on the list and I could probably list twenty of his films here, but I think Ran is the one I always come back to. In truth, I think its one of the greatest films ever made, and its always what pops into my head when someone says the words epic or tragedy. 7. Dolls/Sonatine/Zatoichi - Cheating to include every side of Takeshi Kitano, but these are also just his best films, with Dolls being so drastically different from everything else It best captures how I feel film should be, so it was especially interesting to see Kitano create something so beautiful and odd. Images from that film have never left me, and I keep chasing after them in my own work. Sonatine is probably the best example of existential crime, and has an image that used to be the background of my computer for years. Zatoichi is one of the best samurai films ever, and Im standing by that. 8. To Live/Hero - Cheating again here, but I wanted to get both sides of Zhang Yimou, and I think these capture who he is as a director best. Hero is operatic and beautiful wuxia, while To Live is pure realism from the beginnings of the Chinese revolution through the Cultural Revolution. I think To Live is probably one of the best films to ever come out of China. 9. Farewell, my Concubine - Chen Kaiges epic is so awesome for millions of reasons, but also Leslie Cheung. Leslie Cheung forever! 10. The Russian Ark - Sokurovs hypnotic 90 minute single take film is astounding and I watched it as if in a dream. Most of Sokuovs films are painfully paced while also being brilliantly directed, but I think this is his most accessible and probably best film, and it captures the long take in its most perfect form. Im sort of obsessed with long takes, long sentences, and this is the kind of film I would make if I could. 11. Fist of Legend - This is the best Jet Li film ever made. Its also maybe the best fighting film ever made. It also reminds me of being eight, waiting till everyone went to sleep, and imitating Jet Li and Jackie Chan, trying as hard as I could to finally fly and being a ninja. 12. Im a Cyborg but Thats OK - So, controversial Park Chan-wook choice, I guess, as everyones always talking about Oldboy [though Lady Vengeance is better], but I love so much about this one, for its simplicity, for the way it follows genre conventions while also pushing them into this very bizarre territory. Its probably my favorite romantic comedy ever. 13. The Chaser - Kim Yoon-seok came out of nowhere with this unbelievably awesome serial killer film. Better, probably, than Finchers Seven, and I like it better than Kims other films. Mostly, I was just blown away when I watched it because its so polished and brutal and fully realised, its hard to believe its a first time director at work here. 14. Infernal Affairs [I,II, III] - Tony Leung and Andy Lau forever! Tony Leung is probably my favorite actor ever, and I just love so much about these films. 15. Pulse/Cure - Didnt know what to pick by Kiyoshi Kurosawa but knew I wanted to include him, so I picked his surreal and mindbending horror films. Pulse was remade into some sort of nonsense about people screaming, but the original is so dark and haunting, and you sort of slide into the horror, as Tokyo slowly empties to a wasteland because of nefarious forces. Cure is just brilliant. I dont have much else to say. So, yeah, somehow I didnt really manage to get into the western hemisphere, and Malick belongs on here somewhere, along with a bunch of French dummies, and probably some more Russians, because Russia forever. Also, Takashi Miike needs to be on here somewhere, as does Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and probably a few more east Asian geniuses, as this list is mostly modern, with the oldest film being from the 80s. But, whatever.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:50:27 +0000
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