The only thing that makes me want to see this movie is a still shot (which I couldn't find online) of an infant smoking a cigarette. I thought that it was a Filipino film, and I'd never seen anything from that part of the world, turns out it isn't Filipino. This last revelation has somewhat lowered my expectations.
Marketa Lazarova - 1967
A good friend of mine threw this title at me a long time ago, and everything I read about it seems to reassure me that it will be amazing. It looks like Andrei Rublev but with more dogs/wolves/whatever those animals are. It seems like this movie might be the crown jewel of eastern-European cinema (along with The Red and The White).
Quince Tree of the Sun (aka Dream of Light) - 1992
A feature length documentary about a Quince tree directed by Victor Erice, how can it be anything but superb. This is one of only three films that Erice has made, I think about him as a giant based on Spirit of the Beehive.
The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice - 1952
Sure it is a typical Ozu film where almost any one shot could be from any one of his other black and white films, but every time I see another one of his movies I feel like my appreciation for all of his other films grows a little bit more.
Great list. I'd never heard of 'Marketa Lazarova' or the Erice film, but YEAH! they've GOT to be great. The still shot from Lazarova makes me feel like, I dunno what... Like the film's probably tapping into something enormous and unconscious. What the hell was happening in the sixties?!
ReplyDeleteHaving turned my back on watching films with any regularity for a couple years now, I don't know what my list of 'To-See' movies would be. Well, actually, sure I do.
That Antonioni film that Criterion is about to release ('Identification of a Woman') has been up there for me for a while. I just have a feeling about it. I've read that it's very very VERY sexy -and what can I say? I like sexy.
There's a 1981 Peter Bogdanovich film called 'They All Laughed' starring Ben Gazzara and Audrey Hepburne that I also 'have a feeling' about.
Also 'The Travelling Players,' and Dennis Hopper's 'The Last Movie.'
Making lists of films is almost as enjoyable as WATCHING them.
But man! Great great list. That still shot from Marketa Lazarova is going to keep me up tonight. How had I never heard of that movie before?
-s$s
The Travelling Players, yeah that is one that I would also love to see. The only things that I've heard about 'the last movie' are so terrible that it seems like it might be worth watching. I'll have to read up on the Antonioni one a bit more, it's hard not to like sexy I suppose.
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