Favorite Movies

Here's the results of the favorite movie question from our quiz:
1. Bicycle Thieves 6
2. The General 4
3. His Girl Friday 3
4. Boudu Saved from Drowning 2

Independent films: what are your recommendations and why?

I decided I needed a fun blog post:

Independent films are often considered overly artsy, raunchy, pretentious, or just plain bad. While this may be true for some independent films (BOHICA, Alexander the Last, and Ciao to name a few...) there are many great films too (A deal is a deal, Cherry Blossoms, Back Soon, Live and Become...). Throughout the years a select few indies (mostly that screen at Sundance), can come to general release, and even can become cult favorites (Little Miss Sunshine or Napoleon Dynamite anyone?)

Some of my favorite indies are the comedies, foreign films, (and especially foreign comedies) because they are more than just the film itself, they help bridge cultures. While I'm sure many would not be thrilled about seeing an Icelandic film, an Icelandic film about the misadventures of a pot dealer might get some more interest (Back Soon). Maybe you're a 'Heroes' fan and like James Kyson Lee, then you might get a kick out of "little tokyo, Big dreams" about a caucasian guy trying to be Japanese (or maybe this director's more recent comedy 'White On Rice'). If you like sports movies I think most people would enjoy "Guys and Balls" a German comedy about a gay soccer team.

That said, there are many great dramas as well. Some of my favorites include: Live and Become (Israel) and Cherry Blossoms (Germany), among others which I can't think of right now.

There are so many amazing movies that just don't get the same marketing as your typical hollywood movie, but many more titles can be found on clevelandfilm.org in the archives, and many are available on DVD through blockbusteronline (not in the store) or netflix.

Does anyone else have any indie favorites? Any must-sees?

Cleo's Odyssey

The motif of a journey is one of the oldest in literature. Much like Odysseus' travels, Cleo in Cleo from 5 to 7 is also engaged in a life-changing journey. What are some of the obstacles she must overcome? What are some of the things she learns? How does her outward journey mirror her inner one? What, if anything, is her goal?

Female Director, Female Protagonist, Feminist Film?

Cleo from 5 to 7 is our first film directed by a woman. In addition it has a female protagonist. But does that mean this film has a feminist perspective? Are there any feminist ideas in this movie and if so what are they? Are there any elements in this film that might preclude or at least challenge a feminist interpretation?

Mono No Aware

Mono no aware is the Japanese idea of the awareness of the transience of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life. After watching Tokyo Story can you better understand this concept? What were your emotional feelings at the end of the film? What were you thinking when you saw the final image: the old man alone in the house fanning himself?

The Japanese Aesthetic

For many moviegoers, the films of Ozu are typically Japanese, drawing on a history of theater, printmaking, and Zen rituals that are very different from the West. Do you find an aesthetic or "feel" to Tokyo Story that is different from American or even European films? If you know anything about Japanese culture, do you see parallels between this film and other Japanese art or rituals? Do you gain a sense of mono no aware, the appreciation of the inherent sadness of life due to the transcience of beauty?

The Post-War World

Two films we have screened, Bicycle Thieves and Tokyo Story, are set in the years immediately after World War II, in countries defeated by the United States and its allies. What can we learn about the nature of the war from its aftermath? What do these films tell us about the costs of the war? Do we have any clues about the ascent of America and its culture in the post-war world?

Down and Out in Paris and Rome

Two films we have screened, Boudu Saved from Drowning, and Bicycle Thieves, portray the sometimes harsh life of those at the bottom of the economic ladder. How are the poor and homeless portrayed in both films (Boudu and Antonio Ricci) ? How are they similar and how different? Who or what is responsible for the character's poverty? Is there is a political message in either film?

Jay Gatsby vs. Charles Foster Kane

Most of us read The Great Gatsby in our junior English class. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane, produced about twenty years apart, focus on a man who some might say is the epitome of success. What similarities and differences do you see? Are these works celebrations or critiques of these men, or somewhere in between? Or something else?

Rosebud

Rosebud is perhaps the most famous symbol in movie history. What is the significance of the name "rosebud?" What is the significance of the sled? Is it the key to understanding Kane's life or just one missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that does not explain much at all?

Faulkner, and Joyce and Eliot -- Oh My!

Citizen Kane has a distinctive narrative technique in which Welles tells Kane's story from multiple perspectives and uses flashbacks rather than a chronological order. Do you see any connection between Welles' storytelling and modernist fiction? Why do you think he tells his story using these innovative techniques rather that just a straightforward narrative?

Newspapers on Film

We have seen two films, His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, in which the protagonists work in the newspapers business. What do these films tell us about the job of a reporter or publisher in the 1940's? What is the role or status of the newspaper at that time? How have things changed since that time?

Favorite Scenes

Describe a scene from a movie we have screened in this course. What makes this scene so memorable? Is it funny, inspiring, satirical, tragic, or just amazingly beautiful?

Shout out!

Hey guys,

If any of you like horror/dark comedies/vampire movies, my cousin is finishing up directing and producing a film that he wrote the screenplay for called The Revenant.  I think it should be finished this summer or fall soo you should all see it!! (One of the guys from heroes is in it.)

The Revenant is a story about an ancient pestilence recurring to infect modern society.

In what was supposed to be a standard military drive through the desert, Officer First Class Bart Gregory finds himself killed in Middle East during a rescue attempt gone wrong. Although his body is returned to the United States, and his body is laid to a peaceful rest, Bart finds that his afterlife is anything but. But before the lid can be put on his tomb, Bart inexplicably awakens, confused, horrified-- a moldy, putrefying living corpse - A Revenant.

Bart desperately enlists the help of his best friend, Joey Leubner, in an attempt to ease Bart's newfound nausea and agony. When a panicked emergency room forces the confused corpse to flee, the two friends discover that there is only one cure for Bart's condition:  Human blood.

Bart and Joey take matters into their own hands to keep Bart from decomposing, becoming "The Vigilante Gun-Slingers" in the process. The two anti-heroes sate both Bart's bloody urges to feed upon the living, and exact vengeance upon the criminal element to protect the innocent. However, it is only a matter of time before things begin to spiral out of control during their macabre crusade, and Bart will learn that he must eventually embrace the path of his own horrific destiny... all while cruising in a 1979 Camaro with a surfboard on the roof.

http://www.therevenantmovie.com/ 

Marriage -- And Divorce -- His Girl Friday Style

His Girl Friday charts the marriage and divorce and remarriage of Walter and Hildy and the engagement -- and near marriage -- of Hildy and Bruce. What is this film saying about that state of marriage in the modern world?

Depression-Era Entertaiment

The films Boudu and His Girl Friday were both films produced in and influenced by the Great Depression. What do you notice about these films that shows the influence of the Depression? How about the politics of the movie? As we approach the greatest economic crisis since that time, do these movies have any lessons for our time?

Favorite Actors/Actresses

Do you have a favorite actor or actress whose films you just have to see regardless of whether the movie as a whole looks good or bad? Someone whose performances inspire you? Someone whose skill in acting, witty jokes, or just plain beauty make you love them?
Describe what makes your actor or actress your favorite, whether it be a particular performance, or a particular skill.

Recent Raves and Pans

Have you seen a movie in the last year that you can recommend? Have you seen one that is the equivalent of watching paint dry or hearing chalk scrape against a blackboard? Describe a movie you have seen recently and, more importantly, what makes it good or abominable.

Celluloid Religion

The Passion of Joan of Arc portrays the trial and execution of a 19 year old girl for her heresy. The judges claimed that the devil, not God, was the source of her voices. Her punishment was being burned alive. As a result of watching the film, are you more or less sympathetic to religion? Does the film have a spiritual message or does it condemn spirituality? What is it trying to tell us about religious faith and how?

Or, alternatively, are their other religious films you have seen that do a better or worse job than this film?

A Babe at Its Mother's Breast

In the film The Passion of Joan of Arc as the title character is executed by being burned alive, the camera interrupts the gruesome images of the flames and cuts to a baby feeding at its mother's teat. The child breaks contact with the mother and turns from the breast. In another cut, the child eventually returns to its meal. In class many of us found this image disconcerting and incongruous, generating a few gasps of incomprehension. Yet, is there a reason this image is included in the scene? Could that image have some symbolic importance to the film?