fantastic planet

Rene Laloux cult 1973 animation that has the cannes grand prix was a bit too symbolic for my taste, but the drawings were spectacular almost like hieronymus bosch's paintings and a great psychedelic soundtrack.

woman in the dunes

my favorite teshigahara, although it is more predictable, a bit more cliche than others. again a study on identity, freedom and society like pitfall and face of another, but this time it incorporates the two other films gists in it.

face of another

teshigahara is amazing. there cannot be a better exploration of identity. it is not only the author kobo abe's genius but teshigahara's imagery that recalls surrealist paintings and even francis bacon. beautiful.

good morning

ozu's 1959 film about new appliances, TV and changing traditions. a fell good film, especially when the little kid yells "i love you" every time he walks out.

paprika

satoshi kon's 2006 animation. wild exploration of dreams and capital (i might be reading too much into it but it seems as if he read D & G).

raise the red lantern

beautiful gong li in zhang yimou's film about the maddening patriarchy.

buffalo '66

strange sense of humor under the direction of vincent gallo...

this sporting life

1963 lindsay anderson film, at last on dvd. i thought this might have been a disappointment like if but it was excellent. the angry young man, getting wealth and fame and still not one of the upper class (i guess in 1963 the sports celebrities were not like today's tiger woods) and his troubled relationship to the woman who does not let herself be fooled by his success.

red road

2006 film by andrea arnold, winner of 2006 cannes jury prize. intriguing and disturbing film about revenge. what was brilliant is that the audience does not know how the culprit had actually killed the innocents. and even before then you start sympathizing with him, yet right at the end the perspective changes...

fear of fear

fassbinder's "safe" so to speak. as usual it was great...

grbavica: the land of my dreams

2006 winner of berlin golden bear, a film by jasmila zbanic. it was a very strong film about war, between nations, between mothers and daughters and the aftermath. but the real reason i love this film is that at the last scene the kids are portrayed as kids, ready to move on and reconstruct, rather than guilt-bearing, short grownups as they are portrayed in most films.

kicking and screaming

this is a film baumbach made, perhaps before reading salinger or meeting wes anderson, you cannot even tell it is baumbach.

network

sydney lumet's 1976 film parodying the TV industry that makes everything a spectacle, makes mainstream out of every radical thing. some lines that hit right at the core:

Arthur Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it. Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal? That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity. It is ecological balance. You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations; there are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems; one vast, interwoven, interacting, multivaried, multinational dominion of dollars.
Arthur Jensen: The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled out of the slime. Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality - one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock - all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
Howard Beale: Why me?
Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.
Howard Beale: I have seen the face of God.
Arthur Jensen: You just might be right, Mr. Beale.

Diana Christensen: Look, I sent you all a concept analysis report yesterday. Did any of you read it?
[Aides stare blankly at her]
Diana Christensen: Well, in a nutshell, it said: "The American people are turning sullen. They've been clobbered on all sides by Vietnam, Watergate, the inflation, the depression; they've turned off, shot up, and they've fucked themselves limp, and nothing helps." So, this concept analysis report concludes, "The American people want somebody to articulate their rage for them." I've been telling you people since I took this job six months ago that I want angry shows. I don't want conventional programming on this network. I want counterculture, I want anti-establishment. I don't want to play butch boss with you people, but when I took over this department, it had the worst programming record in television history. This network hasn't one show in the top twenty. This network is an industry joke, and we'd better start putting together one winner for next September. I want a show developed based on the activities of a terrorist group, "Joseph Stalin and His Merry Band of Bolsheviks," I want ideas from you people. This is what you're paid for. And by the way, the next time I send an audience research report around, you'd all better read it, or I'll sack the fucking lot of you. Is that clear?

the war game

peter watkins' 1965 film that was censored in UK because it was too terrifying. the film portrays what would happen if UK was hit by a nuclear weapon, based on what happened in Hiroshima and bombings in Germany and scientific experiments. one of the greatest anti-war films i have seen. i think i should show this alongside Dr.Strangelove to emphasize the ending of Dr.Strangelove.

more

barbet schroder's 1971 film about the evils of heroin. set in france and ibiza to a mesmerizing pink floyd soundtrack the film was basically beautiful. this director is very interesting he has directed some very awful films in 90s yet recently he has directed terror's advocate portraying the life of the the lawyer who defended djamila of the FLN and then ended up getting connected to the international terror-profit network. very interesting.

two-lane blacktop

monte hellman's 1971 film about car racers, it was an interesting film for me because i was not really aware of this counter culture car racing practices. the characters were extremely cool.

punishment park

peter watkins' incredibly strong portrayal about system's way of dealing with dissent. i rest my case: the world is not progressing, in fact it's becoming more reactionary. if he had done this film now and not in 1968, he would get into serious trouble.

read my lips

audiard's film. it's always great to watch vincent cassel on screen, yet this film was not as good as the beat my heart skipped. probably because it was poking its point directly in your eye. self-confidence lacking woman, opportunist tough male, starts out as a fassbinder model, but then LOVE and reconciliation??

tout va bien!

unlike watkins who proves that marxist directors' films need not be boring, godard once again bores me to death. the only reason i wanted to watch this in the first place was jane fonda. godard is arrogant, didactic and annoying. i don't think i would want to see letter to jane at all.

Edvard Munch

The film is shot like a documentary about this great painter's life. But the director's marxist vision makes the film so special. By his montage we see the layers of this individual artist's life: historical and social context, general art history, european history of the early 20th century, his personal history all enmeshed together. The film is very exciting runs smoothly however is 220 mins long. Never before in my life I did not get bored with such a long film. I'm hooked on to Watkins now.

general idi amin dada: a self-portrait

barbet schroder's 1974 documentary about of one of the most peculiar dictators of the 20th century. it was a great documentary not only because of the character it portrays but because of the technique that presents a critical objectivity.

symbiopsychotaxiplasm

william greaves' 1968 film is basically about the nature of the art of film however the main theme is the relations of power. it might be one of the cleverest films i have ever seen in my whole life.

the beat my heart skipped

jacques audiard's 2005 film. it was very strong, and i bet if i was a guy i would be even more thrilled. it was the story of one guy's losing all his assumptions about masculinity thru falling in love with piano and music.

persepolis

a great animation about growing up in iran during and after the revolution that betrayed hopes. the underlining theme was the disappointment and disillusionment about revolution, love, marriage and surviving all that. artistically it was stunning too.

the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford

surprisingly a very good film. the friendship, fame, celebrity cults, american history. only problem is casey affleck is so annoying with his little face and voice.

this film is not yet rated

great documentary about how mpaa is a terrible vicious corporate organization that has nothing to do with protecting the creativity of the film artists. they only protect big studio interests. the two things they do and suck at: 1- parental ratings, 2- anti-piracy.

end of the century: ramones

great documentary. joey is such an eccentric rock star, dee dee is crazy, johnny sucks, the stupid republican and tommy is cool. i did not know that joey wrote kkk took my baby after johnny stole the love of his life. johnny is real kkk.

scratch

documentary by doug pray about scratch maniac djs. i don't want to disrespect dj's that work without mcs, but that music does not work for me. dj shadow is great though. and 'digging' records looks a like great ocd hobby.

strike

schlondorff's mediocre film about the big strike in poland. i hated the acting and the looseness of the story. you would expect so much more from a guy who did lost honor of katharina blum.

chronicle of anne magdalena bach

a film by avant-garde director straub. yuck! what's the purpose of shooting a film if you only put images to the bach soundtrack? it was like watching an audio cd. i have no symptahy for this kind of bullshit cinema.

rumble fish

coppola's first film and was excellent. impossible not to fall in love with mickey rouke. he might have been one of the coolest characters in film history with the character here.

cashback

sean ellis's first film. it's a very romantic and visually stunning.

le trou

jacques becker's film is based on a true story of prison break. it's almost like a documentary and at the end you hate gaspard.

les dames du bois de boulogne

bresson's second feature film from 1945. his style was not really developed but still the film is good. these french people think nothing but how to set each other up in romances.

ten days' wonder

chabrol is like a big lottery, you never know if his films will be good or bad. i guess he is better at filming romance than thriller. even with the presence of anthony perkins, orson welles and michel piccoli this film was boooring, full of one liners like the one piccoli says to welles at the end; "there is no place for gods like you among men."

les biches

chabrol's 1968 film was a fine psychological thriller. jean-louis trignant is one of my favorite actors.

grand illusion

renoir's classic prison-break film. what striked me most was how civilized everyone was in the first world war. the underlying story of the dying aristocracy and bourgeoisie on the rise put the film in its socio-political complexity.

wheel of time

herzog's documentary about buddhist pilgrimage with the appearance of Dalai Lama. it was interesting to see him talk, he seemed so ordinary. documentary was great.

shadows

cassavetes' first film about an interracial romance. the improvisation was genius.

opening night

amazing! i love cassavetes even more. this film is like a cross between all about eve and persona!

virgin spring

i like bergman better when he lost his faith.

after life

1998 film by hirokazu koreeda. i wish this was an anime and not a film, because it revolves around a great idea but it turned out to be really boring unlike his other films.

faces

1968 film by cassavetes, i think might be the best one i saw of him yet. i have to finish the marriage trilogy i guess. class, power and sex were thematized brilliantly. at the end of the day it turns out that i'll beat you with my money.

chris marker's 1963 film is beautiful. the poetic, sci-fi story told in still images captivated me. its remake 12 monkeys could not convey the same lyricism. everyone should watch this.