the ironic thing is i think she sees them as only entertainment. i don't think that she engages with a movie and enters into its world on its terms. [i'm not sure of that about her, she is a very smart engaged person] pulp fiction came up in our discussion. and she asked me what i thought of it. i told her i liked it, and would probably put it in the top 10. upon rethinking that later, i may not put it in my top ten, but it is definately a movie that changed how i watch movies and changed me. that got me thinking about what movies changed me/my movie watching tendancies. these came to mind:
- Fight Club
- Waking Life
- Almost Famous
- American Beauty
- Blue [of the red bleu white trilogy, of which i've only seen bleu.]
- Last Temptation of Christ
- Dogville
A lot of these movies were changing for me because of people that i knew and respected who didn't like the movie. Heidi said Waking Life made her sick, my mom hated American Beauty, so many people thought Bleu was slow and boring, many thought the same of Dogville, many disliked Last Temptation. I don't know of anyone who didn't like Almost Famous or Fight Club. I'm quite sure if certain people watched fight club they wouldn't like it. any who. got a list like that? something i forgot maybe? what's your philosophy on filmmaking? should you make something that you can bring into your house on any occasion? Should you always be striving for something that is worth spending [viewer] time on?
Posted by jack. | | Email post 
Hey Jack.
There is one film that comes to mind on this subject: Paris, Texas. Perhaps you've seen it, perhaps you haven't. If you haven't I'd definitely recommend it. I won't take the time to explain the plot, I'll just get to the point.
What this film showed me about filmmaking is the importance of getting down to the nitty-gritty of human emotion. Another film that portrayed similar things quite well was Five Easy Pieces.
The reason I watch a film and why I think it's worthwhile, apart from the aesthetic value, is whether or not I find the emotion being put forth to be true to life. A film could deal with important issues, even ones that are close to my heart, and it could be well-written, well-acted and all that, but if I don't see enough humanity in what I'm watching, for me, it's largely for nought. That's not to say that I only watch these kinds of movies, but I think that believable and identifiable characters should be foremost. And very few films that I've seen have pulled this off well.
Cheers.
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I have actually met a few people who didn't like Fight Club, but then I think that they were watching the movie purely for entertainment and upset at the amunt of thought that was required to watch it. You proved me wrong on it.
~Oo°~
no thoughts on philosophy right now (I'm not so good at that) but I will say that i didn't really like almost famous. But I think I watched the director's cut cuz i couldn't get the other disc to work. But still... it was so long and it kept going...and going....just like this comment...
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i can see how the directors cut would be long if you watched it first. i believe it's better as a second viewing.
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just for the record: Waking life made me physically sick - all the jolty movement gave me the biggest headache afterwards.
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sorry, yea, i should have clarified that.
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i think forest gump was probably the first movie that had a lasting impression on me. but maybe that's just because i was 11? i still love it though.
hi jack.
~Oo°~
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