intrikate88's top 10 picks for a film canon

[intrikate88]

1. The 400 Blows (Le Quartre cents coups,) Francois Truffaut, France, 1959.

 

So many reasons this film is simply excellent, and I'm sure my limited viewings don't even start to let me understand everything about it. It's cinematically epic, to begin with, showing the journey of the very medium the story is told with. The mise-en-scene is carefully crafted- the setting, the lighting, the actors all work together to make sure every detail tells the story.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1968.

 

From the initial brilliant shots to the billion-year match cut, Kubrick bypasses standard narrative altogether for a brilliant montage of photographic shots. While I have to admit that despite multiple viewings of this film I still don't fully understand everything, it's still very powerful. Kubrick plays with all the elements of cinematography- diegetic and nondiegetic sound, dialogue, mise-en-scene, camera angles- and changes them into something completely unrecognizable that still works. It's incredible, somewhat inexplicable, and overall amazing.

 

3. 8 1/2, Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963.

 

Fellini's film about making a film isn't really as difficult to understand as all the critics seem to think it is, yet I don't think I'm missing something giant and challenging.  8 1/2 is to Hollywood cinema what twentieth-century literature is to nineteenth-century literature, and I think the difference- with all its self-reflexivity and subjective realism- really works in a great way. Also, it’s just fabulous in twenty billion different ways that this short paragraph doesn’t quite due justice to, but only squeals excitedly because of. This film could probably switch first places with The 400 Blows without any undue fuss on my part, too, since their great commentary on the existence of film makes for some fairly interchangeable placement.

 

4.The Maltese Falcon, John Huston, USA, 1941.

 

I admit it- this one's slightly a matter of personal preference. But I think a good canon should have an example of film noir, since it is such an interesting visual style, and influenced so many other film movements, such as the French New Wave. Why this one in particular? Well, you usually can't go too wrong with John Huston, for starters (unless we're talking Wise Blood. Eeep.) and as one of the earliest films in the genre, it seems to have really set a standard and definition for noir. The plot is enjoyable, Humphrey Bogart, as always, keeps me transfixed by his performance, and everything about it creates the sort of atmosphere where the best film noir can thrive.

 

5. Pickpocket, Robert Bresson, France, 1959.

 

Films tend to be about people. People tend to be about identity, and identity is often defined by relationship to things and others. Simple, general concepts, and Pickpocket seems, in a very small, understated way, to be all about these concepts. The movie doesn't seem long, and the story doesn't seem large; this isn't an epic in any way, really. But that's the marvel of it: it's all about a man whose relationship to others and to objects has really broken down. That's a small death, of course, and it happens to everybody. Yet Bresson explores this concept so thoroughly and delves so deeply that Michel's private tragedy absorbs viewers to the point of sharing in his triumphs and his downfall, and his redemption. It is not the words of the film that are so moving, but the small actions and the close, personal visuals that connect us with a man who's become disconnected with everybody else.

6.Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, USA, 1941.

 

A canon work, pretty much for all the usual reasons that cause Andre Bazin to wet his pants in realism-loving glee. Welles uses magnificent deep focus, both formalist and realist techniques, and a thorough knowledge of mise-en-scene to craft the film. Also notable is the use of camera angles, such as the famous extreme low angle shot of Kane and Leland. My favorite part of this film, though, has to be the circular narrative, as each part of Kane's life is retold from another perspective and level of narrative distance.

7. Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1960.

 

If I could put this film up any higher on the list without displacing those already there, I would. Yes, it's another from the French New Wave- an era which I believe is possibly one of the best in film production, simply because of the critical consciousness of film it emerged from- New Wave auteurs know exactly where they come from and what they're doing, and proceed from that point to go on and make a great film. This film in particular is worthy of canonization for its groundbreaking work with jump cuts and a hand-held camera, not using them merely as a contemporary trend but as an influential tool in filmmaking.

 

8. Metropolis, Fritz Lang, Germany, 1926/27.

 

I think this film should be on my canon list sheerly because of the visual entity it created. While many people have never heard of Metropolis, its construction of a dystopian city is something that has become ingrained very deeply in our culture, emerging in films such as Blade Runner and in the Gotham City of the Batman films; it's dark and gloomy tones, combined with an air of corruption, also seems to be the precursor to film noir and the grey, corrupted world of those films.

 

9.Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, USA, 1942.

 

I read an Umberto Eco essay once about Casablanca being made up entirely of cliches. Okay, so, maybe it is- but as Eco went on to argue, it's such an inspired combination of cliches that it totally works, like a U2 song or something. Everything about this film is instantly recognizable, even for first-time viewers, and this creates a resonance that draws viewers into the film perfectly. Is it radically self-reflexive and expressionistic and artsy? No, not particularly, but it's just so damn good that it's great.

10.  The Return (Vozvrashcheniye), Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia, 2003.

It’s Russian, and really, really pretty! …and in an attempt to be slightly less shallow, I’ll also say its narrative style seems to allude back to Italian Neorealism, but not as a copy of that style; it’s more like a new generation of it, perhaps. In addition, the film seems to be made by a photographer more than a director; it leads from one absolutely gorgeous still shot to another, and the action appears to serve as a transition, rather than a focus. It lingered with me for days afterward, much like Bergman’s Persona did, causing me to see everything around me at sort of a different angle that I didn’t and still don’t quite understand, but I know that something profound still happened.

Like I said. It’s really, really pretty.

Comments

8 1/2 and more

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't seen Pickpocket, every other film on this list I am a fan of.

8 1/2 is my all time favorite film, I love it so. Have you seen Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits? While story-wise I don't like it as much as 8 1/2 or Nights of Cabiria I think its Fellini's most visually imaginative film.

Regarding Umberto Eco's writing about film I really enjoyed an essay of his on the formula of the James Bond films.

Anyways, nice to see another Marietta resident who loves good film. Also, if you have not seen them you might want to investigate the films of Jodorowsky, especially Holy Mountain.

-Ben Morris

[ohvienna.livejournal.com]

I've gotten a smidgen busy, but I still want to throw some films at you, because it's fun.

Your list is very ace, very in line with the accepted canon over time. It's too hard to argue with them, they're all such great films.

You know, I've not seen Tokyo Story. I have, however, seen Rashomon, which would make the canon, even though I don't really like it per se, heh.

You loves you some French New Wave, I see. I think I would have Breathless, in my top ten, because it's Goddard and therefore love, and also because of it's influential use of jump cuts and hand-held camera.

Un Chien Andelou is amazing for it's time; I don't think I could justify it in my own top ten; maybe a 20 or 30. Mainly because it's a short film and probably isn't as completely influential over time when there are so films that could go in the top ten of so many different genres that should really get some loving, in my book. Such as The Western, The Searchers, or SciFi - Metropolis or Blade Runner (though not in place of 2001, 'course).

For the realism lovers, hurray, I am going to go old school and be kind of huzzah! to The Bicycle Thief. I'm also very keen on Dziga Vertov; Man with a Movie Camera is just stunning for what film can do in this respect. Plus, some Russian love, yay! Movie Camera gets my vote over something like Battleship Potempkin, but peoples sure do love them Odessa steps.

People can try and be as objective and subjective as they want, but hell if subjectivity isn't the main thing. I'd have a musical in my top ten, and it would be Singin' in the Rain.

HITCHCOCK. VERTIGO.

Noir-wise, I'd tip my hat to Double Indemnity, and Chinatown if I was being a little risky. I'd love for "film canon" to start really encompassing broader ranges of time. They seem to stop in the 1960s always, and exclude things like Taxi Driver, or something like The Matrix. I love film and film criticism, but its a crazy place full of awful pretention, and something like Jaws would be pretty high on my top whatever, because I think we could all safely say that the blockbuster is a pretty ubiquitous thing, and they can be fantastic.

Top Tens are hard; the Big Classic Ones will always deservedly be up there. Top 50s are more fun, because then you can start getting Krazy.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like your idea of a Top 50, because much as I hate conventionality and all that, all the conventional canon films ARE there for good reason. My problem, though, is that I have to have seen the films for this list, and I'm tragically pretty film illiterate and don't remember what I've seen. I can remember books I read twelve years ago, though, and I wish I could give that mind space to film!

I haven't seen Rashoman, but I've heard enough about it that I really want it to be on the list. I think I might have to YouTube a few of these to get stuff for my supporting paragraphs and make serious resolutions to go back and watch them later.

You make a really good point about Breathless; I don't really like it hugely, but you're right- definitely influential with the jump cuts and camera work.

Part of my problem is that, even after a semester of talking about this stuff, I still don't know what I consider to be a definition of 'canon'. Is it the first examples of techniques that influenced the most? If that's it, then we should have DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation because of the cross-cutting even though the film is atrocious, and Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin which isn't as nauseating, although seeing the Odessa Steps sequence 32490984530 times can be, just because of montage. Or should canon consist of the last and best example of a technique? Like slow motion for stylized violence- should we pick Seven Samurai for starting it, or The Matrix for making it amazing?

I haven't seen Chinatown yet, but I definitely want to after just reading a few essays on it. For film noir, I still kind of stick by The Maltese Falcon, because yes, there were noirs later that did great things. But I think Falcon built the sandbox, and everybody else made awesome sand castles. Another dilemma with the first-or-best issue.

You're right about Chien Andelou. I admit, I was kind of grasping. Metropolis, however, would be a great addition in it's place- that's another sandbox-building film that you recognize everywhere, even if you've never heard of the film.

I've never heard of Man with a Movie Camera; what's that about?

Film criticism is pretty pretentious, I'm seeing that in the essays I'm reading for Film History class. But I do like the film program here at Kennesaw- the teachers are pretty open-minded, and always up for discussion. And for showing examples of Teh Production Code Sex.

Thanks so much for commenting so comprehensively! You've really helped me a lot, and you know me, I always love good knowledgeable conversation. *SMOOCH*