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So recently I had a free evening at home alone, Berit being away house-managing The Ohio for The Havel Festival, and wound up sitting around bored. Felt like watching a DVD, but looking at the shelf, nothing in its entirety felt "right." Instead, I felt like watching my favorite bits and pieces of almost everything I have. So I started pulling them out and lining them up, chronologically (yeah, I know, obsessive-compulsive much, Ian?).
I began dreaming, once again, as film geeks do, of what I would show in some dream festival of favorite films. Maybe something to do in off-hours at The Brick for friends and interested parties, if anyone would in fact be interested (unfortunately, it's been tried before there, and died due to lack of interest). Since this kind of fantasy can get out of control, I restricted myself to just the movies I have on DVD, right now, which eliminated a great many "essential" films from the list, but well, that was the rule. So, no 2001, no Peeping Tom, no Videodrome, no Barry Lyndon, no The Last Picture Show, no The Seventh Victim. No Bergman, no Kurosawa, no Scorcese, no Keaton. No Brakhage, no Kuchar. Very heavily weighted to the latter decades of the 20th Century, but what the hell.
I came up a fantasy "film series" with 65 movies to be run on 35 bills. Chronological, broken up into groups that seemed right as double or even triple bills (or which had to stand alone). Extremely impractical bills at times (some 4+ hour marathons here), but what seemed right. That's how we used to sit through things at Cinema Village or the Thalia SoHo or the old Film Forum on Watts Street.
So I made up the list. Maybe I'll actually try and show these this way sometime soon. I'd rather like to. Make up program notes and so forth, too. Actual projected film would be so much better, but DVD well-projected on the big screen at The Brick will do in a pinch.
1. Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
2. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
3. King Kong (1933, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack)
4. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
5. Detour (1945, Edgar G. Ulmer)
6. Black Narcissus (1947, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
7. Raw Deal (1948, Anthony Mann)
8. The Red Shoes (1949, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
9. Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
10. The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
11. Glen or Glenda? (1953, Edward D. Wood Jr.)
12. The Big Combo (1955, Joseph H. Lewis)
13. Kiss Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich)
14. Le Mepris (1963, Jean-Luc Godard)
15. Masculin Feminin (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)
16. Point Blank (1967, John Boorman)
17. Targets (1968, Peter Bogdonovich)
18. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969, Sergio Leone)
19. She Killed in Ecstasy (1970, Jesus Franco)
20. Myra Breckinridge (1970, Michael Sarne)
21. THX-1138 (1971, George Lucas)
22. Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
23. The Ruling Class (1972, Peter Medak)
24. Letter to Jane (1972, Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin)
25. Tout Va Bien (1972, Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin)
26. Ganga & Hess (1973, Bill Gunn)
27. The Wicker Man (1973, Robin Hardy)
28. Phantom of the Paradise (1974, Brian DePalma)
29. Dark Star (1974, John Carpenter)
30. Zardoz (1974, John Boorman)
31. Tommy (1975, Ken Russell)
32. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976, Nicolas Roeg)
33. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch)
34. The Brood (1979, David Cronenberg)
35. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
36. The Ninth Configuration (1979, William Peter Blatty)
37. Bad Timing (1980, Nicolas Roeg)
38. Stardust Memories (1980, Woody Allen)
39. Cannibal Holocaust (1980, Ruggero Deodato)
40. The Falls (1980, Peter Greenaway)
41. Blow Out (1981, Brian DePalma)
42. The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982, Peter Greenaway)
43. Koyaanisqatsi (1983, Godfrey Reggio)
44. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Friedkin)
45. A Zed and Two Noughts (1985, Peter Greenaway)
46. Manhunter (1986, Michael Mann)
47. Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987, Norman Mailer)
48. Road House (1989, Rowdy Harrington)
49. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989, Peter Greenaway)
50. The Exorcist III (1990, William Peter Blatty)
51. Gremlins 2 (1990, Joe Dante)
52. Barton Fink (1991, Joel Coen)
53. Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone)
54. Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
55. Schizopolis (1996, Steven Soderbergh)
56. Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino)
57. Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch)
58. The Limey (1999, Steven Soderbergh)
59. Fight Club (1999, David Fincher)
60. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)
61. Magnolia (2000, Paul Thomas Anderson)
62. Vanilla Sky (2001, Cameron Crowe)
63. Battle Royale (2002, Kinji Fukasaku)
64. Solaris (2002, Steven Soderbergh)
65. Mulholland Dr. (2002, David Lynch)
Why some of these are here and not others, I have no idea. Why I included Raw Deal and not the superior film Out of the Past, I have no idea -- it just seemed right. Would I have included D.O.A. or Forbidden Zone if they weren't out on loan to people right now, making me forget about them? Maybe. I dunno.
These were the movies I had on hand right now that make me love movies. That's all.
I began dreaming, once again, as film geeks do, of what I would show in some dream festival of favorite films. Maybe something to do in off-hours at The Brick for friends and interested parties, if anyone would in fact be interested (unfortunately, it's been tried before there, and died due to lack of interest). Since this kind of fantasy can get out of control, I restricted myself to just the movies I have on DVD, right now, which eliminated a great many "essential" films from the list, but well, that was the rule. So, no 2001, no Peeping Tom, no Videodrome, no Barry Lyndon, no The Last Picture Show, no The Seventh Victim. No Bergman, no Kurosawa, no Scorcese, no Keaton. No Brakhage, no Kuchar. Very heavily weighted to the latter decades of the 20th Century, but what the hell.
I came up a fantasy "film series" with 65 movies to be run on 35 bills. Chronological, broken up into groups that seemed right as double or even triple bills (or which had to stand alone). Extremely impractical bills at times (some 4+ hour marathons here), but what seemed right. That's how we used to sit through things at Cinema Village or the Thalia SoHo or the old Film Forum on Watts Street.
So I made up the list. Maybe I'll actually try and show these this way sometime soon. I'd rather like to. Make up program notes and so forth, too. Actual projected film would be so much better, but DVD well-projected on the big screen at The Brick will do in a pinch.
1. Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
2. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
3. King Kong (1933, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack)
4. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
5. Detour (1945, Edgar G. Ulmer)
6. Black Narcissus (1947, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
7. Raw Deal (1948, Anthony Mann)
8. The Red Shoes (1949, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
9. Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
10. The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
11. Glen or Glenda? (1953, Edward D. Wood Jr.)
12. The Big Combo (1955, Joseph H. Lewis)
13. Kiss Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich)
14. Le Mepris (1963, Jean-Luc Godard)
15. Masculin Feminin (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)
16. Point Blank (1967, John Boorman)
17. Targets (1968, Peter Bogdonovich)
18. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969, Sergio Leone)
19. She Killed in Ecstasy (1970, Jesus Franco)
20. Myra Breckinridge (1970, Michael Sarne)
21. THX-1138 (1971, George Lucas)
22. Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
23. The Ruling Class (1972, Peter Medak)
24. Letter to Jane (1972, Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin)
25. Tout Va Bien (1972, Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin)
26. Ganga & Hess (1973, Bill Gunn)
27. The Wicker Man (1973, Robin Hardy)
28. Phantom of the Paradise (1974, Brian DePalma)
29. Dark Star (1974, John Carpenter)
30. Zardoz (1974, John Boorman)
31. Tommy (1975, Ken Russell)
32. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976, Nicolas Roeg)
33. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch)
34. The Brood (1979, David Cronenberg)
35. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
36. The Ninth Configuration (1979, William Peter Blatty)
37. Bad Timing (1980, Nicolas Roeg)
38. Stardust Memories (1980, Woody Allen)
39. Cannibal Holocaust (1980, Ruggero Deodato)
40. The Falls (1980, Peter Greenaway)
41. Blow Out (1981, Brian DePalma)
42. The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982, Peter Greenaway)
43. Koyaanisqatsi (1983, Godfrey Reggio)
44. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Friedkin)
45. A Zed and Two Noughts (1985, Peter Greenaway)
46. Manhunter (1986, Michael Mann)
47. Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987, Norman Mailer)
48. Road House (1989, Rowdy Harrington)
49. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989, Peter Greenaway)
50. The Exorcist III (1990, William Peter Blatty)
51. Gremlins 2 (1990, Joe Dante)
52. Barton Fink (1991, Joel Coen)
53. Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone)
54. Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
55. Schizopolis (1996, Steven Soderbergh)
56. Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino)
57. Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch)
58. The Limey (1999, Steven Soderbergh)
59. Fight Club (1999, David Fincher)
60. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)
61. Magnolia (2000, Paul Thomas Anderson)
62. Vanilla Sky (2001, Cameron Crowe)
63. Battle Royale (2002, Kinji Fukasaku)
64. Solaris (2002, Steven Soderbergh)
65. Mulholland Dr. (2002, David Lynch)
Why some of these are here and not others, I have no idea. Why I included Raw Deal and not the superior film Out of the Past, I have no idea -- it just seemed right. Would I have included D.O.A. or Forbidden Zone if they weren't out on loan to people right now, making me forget about them? Maybe. I dunno.
These were the movies I had on hand right now that make me love movies. That's all.
