Friday, August 1, 2008

Brandon Colvin's 12 Movies Meme


Happy Friday everyone! It's been a slow week for us, but we're hopping to end the week with a bang. Recently, Brandon and I were memed by Jeremy Richey at Moon in the Gutter to take a part of the 12 movie meme. It was started by Piper at Lazy Eye Theatre, and the idea (for those of you who haven't seen this meme floating around yet) is to create your own 12-movie week long film festival for New Beverly Cinema.

Here are the rules...

1) Choose 12 Films to be featured. They could be random selections or part of a greater theme. Whatever you want.

2) Explain why you chose the films.

3) Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre so I can have hundreds of links and I can take those links and spread them all out on the bed and then roll around in them.

4) The people selected then have to turn around and select 5 more people.

Although Jeremy tagged Brandon OR myself, we have decided to both do our own lists because we think it is a lot of fun, and we both created our own lists and (without telling each other) had no overlap at all in the films chosen. You can continue reading Brandon's list below...my list will be posted later tonight. (I secretly only had time to post one, and get all the materials, before I have to go to work today.)

Thanks to Piper and Jeremy for making us a part of this meme! I hope you all enjoy our lists and can fantasize about these festivals actually happening.

MONDAY:
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS
(1955) and ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974)

Melodrama at its finest. Douglas Sirk presents a glossed-up meta-analysis of Hollywood fantasy/domestic unrest and Rainer Werner Fassbinder retells the same story, this time racially-charged, with his New German grit.

TUESDAY:
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928) and DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST (1951)

Carl Th. Dreyer and Robert Bresson, two of cinema's greatest poets, spin tales of martyrdom and spiritual anguish while presenting wildly contrasting examples of stylized acting through the marvelous performances of Maria Falconetti and Claude Laydu, respectively.

WEDNESDAY:
NAKED LUNCH (1991) and ADAPTATION. (2002)

How does writing happen? David Cronenberg and Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman tackle the challenges of, well, adaptation, in these two very different films, each of which blends biography, process, exaggeration, and self-referentiality while trying to uncover how stories are made and how fiction functions in relation to reality.

THURSDAY:
DOG STAR MAN: PRELUDE-PART IV (1962-1964) and STALKER (1979)

Nearly polar opposites on the editing spectrum, Stan Brakhage's experimental opus and Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical masterpiece elaborate upon the strange, strange journeys of their protagonists into strange, strange lands. To see the rapidity and hyperkineticism of Brakhage's avant-garde work juxtaposed with the contemplative leisure of Tarkovsky's pacing would be pleasurably mind-stretching.

FRIDAY:
AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (1972) and THE THIN RED LINE (1998)

Both Werner Herzog and Terrence Malick are adept at capturing the natural world in a powerful context that is always aesthetically cleansing. This pair of jungle films revolves around brutality, madness, and moments of beauty - sometimes only perceptible to the cinematographic eye.

SATURDAY:
LA NOTTE (1961) and THE PASSION OF ANNA (1969)

Emblematic of the explosion of European art cinema in the 1960s, Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman have been compared, contrasted, and fought over endlessly, particularly since their nearly simultaneous deaths. Undoubtedly, the two were great film artists and remain two of the most influential directors on my conception of what cinema is and should be. These two films are a couple of my favorites.

by Brandon Colvin

Hope you all enjoyed the list! I will meme a set of others with my post later tonight. Have a great (hopefully film-filled weekend!)

12 comments:

Nostalgia Kinky said...

Great list Brandon...thanks for taking the time to join in. Outside of skipping the Sirk I would take in the whole week with Saturday being my favorite...thanks again.

Ed Howard said...

Very interesting double bills. I especially love the intuitive pairing of Brakhage and Tarkovsky, which I never would've thought of but which makes nearly perfect sense now. The only one I might skip is Wednesday, with one of my least favorite Cronenbergs and an OK Charlie Kaufmann flick. But Jeremy, skipping Sirk? I do prefer Written on the Wind, but Heaven is a great film as well, and makes a wonderful companion piece to the Fassbinder film it inspired.

James Hansen said...

I took a World Melodrama class last semester...one week we watched "All That Heaven Allows", the next we waatched "Ali". It was weird to see the same train of thought here, but just goes to show how much it makes sense. Good work Brandon...nice list.

James Hansen said...

PS- I would literally shit my pants if I got to se "Dog Star" and "Stalker as a double feature. Each of those (if forced to make a choice) would be my favs from Brakhage and Tarkovsky. I would be in film heaven.

Nostalgia Kinky said...

Yea, Sirk just isn't my thing...which is funny as I love a lot of directors he really inspired like Fassbinder, Almodovar and even Tarantino (who was recently singing his praises on TCM). I don't know what it is. I admire him technically but I just can't stomach his films (even the Rock Hudson ones and I am a huge fan of his).
I know it's my loss and there is just something I'm missing but I just can't get into his work (and I have really tried).

James Hansen said...

It's ok, Jeremy! I'm in the admiration of Sirk category more than love...that said, I would still go see his iconic films in theaters.

Brandon Colvin said...

It's interesting that Douglas Sirk's film is apparently the most controversial selection I made. Classical Hollywood Cinema seems to be less popular than the American avant-garde, at least in the strange reality known as our blog.

Also, I just watched that Tarantino interview with Elvis Mitchell today, before I had read your comment. How serendipitous?

James Hansen said...

Knowing that our readers support the avant-garde and international film more than Sirk puts a smile on my face. Not that Sirk is totally separate, but it looks like our writers (general) preferences are the same as the readers...that's a good sign! Thanks everyone!

Nostalgia Kinky said...

It's funny Brandon since I typically love Classic Hollywood cinema...there is just something about Sirk's work that I can't handle.
I've noticed the same thing at Moon though that when I post on more classic material I don't get near the responses I do to more modern stuff...I'm still reeling from the freeze out my Marlene Dietrich-Von Sternberg posts got.

Joel Bocko said...

Interesting list...why the pairing of that particular Bergman with that particular Antonioni? Just personal favorites? (I remember reading that La Notte was Bergman's favorite of Antonioni, who he was known to criticize).

Check out my list here & let me know what you think:
http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2008/08/dirty-dozen.html

Anonymous said...

Showing up a little late, I also loved the list and also just watched the Tarantino interview. I enjoyed it very much.

Keith said...

Great list. I find many of these films of interest. I've only seen a few of them, so I would definitely be checking out every single night.