December 20, 2005
New Year's Resolutions: Movies
In 2006, I resolve to watch the following:
Three Ingmar Bergman films (I've seen only two of his):
Autumn Sonata, The Hour of the Wolf, Persona
Three Federico Fellini films (I've seen only three):
La Dolce Vita, Nights of Cabiria, Juliet of the Spirits
Three Rainer Werner Fassbinder films (nada, zip, zilch)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Marriage of Maria Braun, Fox and His Friends
Three older Japanese films that aren't directed by Akira Kurosawa:
Shinoda's Double Suicide, Okamoto's The Sword of Doom, Ozu's Tokyo Story
Three Iranian films (none so far, although I own a book about Iranian cinema):
Haven't picked yet. Suggestions?
Three Russian films (pathetically few):
Haven't picked yet. Suggestions?
Three films from the Balkans
Haven't picked yet. Suggestions?
Three African films (again, pathetically few):
Haven't picked yet. Suggestions?
Three "important" documentaries (you know, the ones that end up on best-of lists)
Harlan County USA, Grey Gardens, Nanook of the North
I hope I won't conveniently forget these. It's often easier for me to rent a mainstream film than more serious fare, much like it's easier to down a cheesburger than a salad. But salads end up tasting good, and I usually enjoy more serious films. We'll see how well I do. That's only 27 out of the approximately 130–150 films I'll watch next year, so it shouldn't be too hard.
Posted by mike, December 20, 2005 6:26 PMI warn you, though: I hem and haw every New Year's Day about my film-watching resolutions of the year (24 Anglo titles and 24 foreign-language), and then I get around to 25-50% of them. But it's still fun. And a good incentive. Keep us updated!
(Oh, and do those search engines on blogs actually work? I had one up for the first month, but it never found anything, even when the phrase was sitting right there, waiting to be alighted upon.)
Posted by: Nick at December 20, 2005 8:16 PMmine: sign up at 43things.com
Posted by: travis at December 21, 2005 12:01 AMthere. I did it. http://www.43things.com/person/omokage
Posted by: travis at December 21, 2005 12:09 AMIf you seriously want suggestions, which I doubt you need, I'll put in plugs for...
Iran: Taste of Cherry, Where Is the Friend's Home, and/or Close-Up (Kiarostami); A Moment of Innocence or Gabbeh (M. Makhmalbaf); Blackboards (S. Makhmalbaf); The Circle or Crimson Gold (Panahi); or, if you want to dig on the more sentimental strain, The Color of Paradise or Children of Heaven (M. Majidi)
Russia: Nostalghia, Andrei Rublev, and Solaris are my favorite Tarkovskys (Stalker, too, but I wouldn't have liked it if I'd started there); The Cranes Are Flying (Kalatozov) is lovely; last year's The Return (Zvyagintsev) was pretty bracing; I've missed a lot of the good stuff like I Am Cuba and the better Mikhalkovs, and I'm skipping the whole silent scene
Balkans: I'm only so-so on No Man's Land (Tanovic '01), but I seem to be in the minority; Before the Rain (Manchevski '94) is much more interesting and daring, I think; I haven't seen any Kusturica and can't help there
Africa: You know I'm partial to Hyenas (Mambéty '92) and even more so to Xala (Sembene '74); I'd also recommend Faces of Women (Écaré '85) or Yeelen (Cissé '87)
Posted by: Nick at December 21, 2005 1:42 PMAh, Nick. I knew you'd come through for me. I actually scanned your top 100 list and cribbed some from there--Taste of Cherry, Fox and His Friends--and I was going in search of your blog post about African film. Yeelen and No Man's Land are the only ones you recommended that I've seen. Thanks!
Posted by: mike at December 21, 2005 11:16 PMOK, I've made it easier to keep track (for me and for my faithful readers): http://goatdog.com/articlePage.php?articleID=20
Posted by: mike at December 21, 2005 11:46 PM"Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" is pretty good for a Russian movie. It is not WONDERFUL, but it is a pretty darned solid film.
Posted by: shane at December 24, 2005 12:11 AM