Introduction to the Film Atlas

Welcome to the Film Atlas!

In brief:

I am going to review a favorite film from 100+ countries.

There will be a new post with a new country and a new film every day.

Countries whose films will be featured, color-coded by decade.

In detail:

Films, for me, have always been a form of exploration. I don’t just mean that they ‘transport us to worlds of the imagination’ (although that too), but that they introduce us to new places, personalities, situations, historical moments and moral dilemmas that can be both fascinating in their novelty and yet startlingly close to home. Movies allow us to virtually travel and vicarious experience, giving us a chance to consider how we would react under other conditions and providing a window into how others think, feel, work, play, express themselves, live and die.

This project, The Film Atlas, is just an extension of my love for exploring through movies. I’ve always been interested in the vastness and variety of international cinema. Perhaps it's partly because, though there is no real substitute for actually travelling abroad, movies are a lot more affordable!

I live smack in the middle of the U.S., which has a passionate, progressive, omnivorous film culture that coexists, paradoxically, with a tendency towards insularity. For a variety of historical, commercial, technological and cultural reasons, the U.S. has played such a dominant role in the development of cinema that many moviegoers, especially domestically, consider Hollywood to be the gold standard, somehow more valuable, important or real than movies made anywhere else. Films made in other countries or by independent studios and individual artists often get labeled as special interest and are written off by popular culture.

It probably goes without saying that I think these films have more to offer!

I started working on this project about two years ago. The idea came to me when I was attending the St. Louis International Film Festival near my home. Each year I try to see at least one film in the festival from a country whose cinema I am totally unfamiliar with. It was getting hard to keep track of so I did what I normally do and compiled a list. It turned out that I’d already seen films from almost 60 countries! The thought occurred to me that I should set a goal of 100. Even better, instead of just seeing the movies, what if I wrote about them?

It sounded like a great idea for one of those highly successful/annoyingly-trendy blogs where someone spends a year eating only foods that begin with B or vows to hug 100 species of cacti. Not that a lot of those projects aren’t fun, but I hope to steer the Film Atlas away from their frequent pitfalls: being too zeitgeisty, arbitrary or self-absorbed. Shoot me a comment or email if you feel I stray. I’ve even, after much vacillation, rejected the seductive roundness of the number 100. I’m now seen at least one movie from upwards of 140 countries, but since I'm only writing about films I can genuinely recommend (there will be very few exceptions), the final count will likely land around 120.

I'll continue to grow the list over time, even after my initial run, so I'd love it if readers chimed in with advice on films from countries I miss.

So how does one pick a single film to represent a whole nation’s cinema? For some countries, like Suriname, Liberia or Samoa, the film I’ve chosen is simply the only one I could find (perhaps even the only one made). For countries with thriving film industries it was harder. I initially set out to identify the “best” movie from each country, but I balked at the idea of writing about so many already well-documented greats like Citizen Kane, The Rules of Engagement or Seven Samurai. Finally acknowledging the inevitability of subjectivity, I instead opted for a more flexible approach: sometimes I wrote about the most critically well-regarded, other times I went with my favorite, or a highly representative film or the most interesting or the most underrated.

For most countries I was not just content to find a movie, I wanted to watch as many candidates as reasonably possible to make a moderately informed selection and to provide a hefty chunk of runners-up. But keep in mind that I didn’t have time to become an expert on anywhere, so don't be outraged if you think I've shortchanged your favorite country. A bit of argument over some selections is to be expected and is part of the fun. I’m curious to hear what you consider to be the best film from A or B or C, so don’t hold back when you disagree.

I'm excited to say that even though I came into this project already loving international cinema and being reasonably fluent in it, I was surprised by how many absolute masterpieces I hadn't yet seen, languishing in under-appreciated corners of the globe. This is easily my most ambitious project to date and my focus on it has probably driven a few of my friends a little nuts. But it has also been my most rewarding writing effort and I hope you enjoy it too!

Here’s a breakdown of the number of films I saw from various countries, which also serves as a very, very rough estimate of cinematic prominence, if you are curious about that type of thing:

1000+: US

300+: France, UK, Japan

100+: Italy, Germany

75+: Russia, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Canada

50+: South Korea, Australia, Sweden, Spain, China, India

40+: Poland, Iran

30+: Hungary, Denmark, Mexico

20+: Brazil, Belgium, Taiwan, Argentina, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand, Greece

10+: Serbia, Norway, Austria, Israel, Thailand, Finland, Slovakia, Croatia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania

6+: Chile, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Ukraine, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Indonesia, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Vietnam

3+: Macedonia, Uruguay, Burkina Faso, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Mali, Singapore, Antarctica, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mauritania, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, Venezuela

2: Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chad, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Estonia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Latvia, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Paraguay, Zimbabwe

1: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Fiji, Greenland, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Madagascar, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirate, Uzbekistan, Yemen

Some countries are under-represented relative to their real output for various reasons, like having highly productive and popular cinemas that focus primarily on domestic audiences (India, Nigeria), experiencing a golden age that pre-dated home media (Egypt, Lebanon), suffering from a lack of international distribution/translation (the Baltic states) or some combination of the above. Plus there are my own limitations in terms of tracking things down and managing time and money.

I should also point out that I am using an inclusive definition of nationhood that is not intended to have any particular political significance. For instance, I chose to represent Antarctica, Greenland, Palestine and Hong Kong in the Film Atlas. For older films made when countries had different names or borders, I have "given the credit," so to speak, to what I think is the most accurate modern-day equivalent.

I struggled a lot with the question of how to deal with co-productions, since so many films involve the cooperation of multiple nations. Boiling the complexities of such films down so that I could classify them under a single heading was an expedient I'd rather have avoided, but couldn't. In classifying these films I gave preeminence to the language, setting and subject matter in addition to the nationalities of the director, writer and cast as well as, to a lesser extent, the financing of the film.

For example, I consider films like Hotel Rwanda, The Kite Runner and Memoirs of a Geisha to be American films instead of, respectively, Rwandan, Afghan or Japanese. Likewise, I would classify Waking Ned Divine and Slumdog Millionaire as British instead of Irish or Indian. Not that I would have selected any of these examples for either their ostensible or actual country of origin, but I mention them as the type of things I didn't consider representative indigenous productions. I’d rather highlight films in which the creative voice was of the people who actually live there. That said, a few of my selections (Algeria, Nepal, Venezuela) walk a fine line and are open to debate.

To keep the Film Atlas as interesting as possible I've also striven for variety in other senses beyond nationality. I quickly found certain patterns emerging in researching the great films of various nations. For instance, most countries have their epic national-identity-affirming patriotic war film (either an against-the-odds victory over an invader or a tragic story of martyred heroism), their oft-quoted but notoriously untranslatable low-budget comedy that you simply have to live there to appreciate, and their semi-autobiographical coming-of-age-during-a-time-of-political-change drama. All of these will generally feature a romantic subplot. While each of these genres is represented on this list, I will also be including documentaries, musicals, action movies, science fiction and horror, animation, experimental films and unclassifiable oddities.

I’ve chosen films from every decade from the 1920s onward, although there is a definite bias towards the last two decades (since many countries did not have the means of production and distribution before then) and the 1970s (my admitted favorite decade).

My format will be to include a plot summary and review of one film from each country, along with a list of other recommended films and of prominent directors.

The Film Atlas has two goals:

1) Creating a starting point for anyone interested in international cinema or seeking out landmark movies from a particular country, many of which aren’t widely discussed in English-language resources.

2) I want to get you (yes, you!) interested and excited about at least a couple of these movies. Some of them are rather obscure, so if something sounds good but you have trouble finding it, email me and I’ll try to help!

Lastly, I want to thank all the people who helped with this project whether they knew it or not, especially the many others cinephiles who’ve conducted polls, posted lists or shared their opinions with me, ensuring that I never run out of recommendations to pursue!

The Film Atlas begins today with Afghanistan. Enjoy! I’ll update this table of contents from time to time:

Afghanistan: Osama

Albania: Slogans

Algeria: The Battle of Algiers

Angola: Sambizanga

Antarctica: Crossing the Ice

Argentina: The Swamp

Armenia: The Color of Pomegranates

Australia: Picnic at Hanging Rock

Austria: The White Ribbon

Bahamas: Rain

Belarus: In the Fog

Belgium: All Night Long

Bhutan: Travellers and Magicians

Bolivia: Blood of the Condor

Bosnia-Herzegovina: No Man's Land

Brazil: Keeper of Promises

Bulgaria: The Goat's Horn

Burkina Faso: Yaaba

Cambodia: Rice People

Cameroon: The Child of Another

Canada: My Winnipeg

Chad: A Screaming Man

Chile: The Maid

China: Raise the Red Lantern

Colombia: Embrace of the Serpent (A Man of Principle)

Croatia: H-8

Cuba: Death of a Bureaucrat

Cyprus: Akamas

Czech Republic: Case for a Rookie Hangman

Denmark: The Celebration

Ecuador: Ratas Ratones Rateros

Egypt: Cairo Station
Estonia: The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel

Ethiopia: Harvest 3000 Years

Finland: The White Reindeer

France: Children of Paradise

Georgia: Repentance

Germany: Metropolis

Ghana: The Burial of Kojo (Heritage Africa)

Greece: A Matter of Dignity

Greenland: Nuummioq

Guatemala: The Silence of Neto

Guinea-Bissau: The Blue Eyes of Yonta
Haiti: Moloch Tropical
Honduras: Garifuna in Peril

Hong Kong: The Boxer's Omen

Hungary: The Round-Up

Iceland: Jar City

India: Emperor of the Mughals

Indonesia: Tiger from Tjampa

Iran: The Cyclist

Iraq: Son of Babylon

Ireland: The Butcher Boy

Israel: Waltz with Bashir

Italy: The Conformist

Ivory Coast: In the Name of Christ

Jamaica: Rockers

Japan: Akira

Jordan: Captain Abu Raed

Kazakhstan: The Fall of Otrar
Kenya: Nairobi Half Life
Kuwait: The Cruel Sea

Kyrgyzstan: Beshkempir
Latvia: In the Shadow of Death
Lebanon: Where Do We Go Now?

Liberia: Johnny Mad Dog
Luxembourg: Little Secrets

Macedonia: Before the Rain

Madagascar: Souli

Malaysia: My Mother-in-Law

Mali: Brightness
Mauritania: Timbuktu

Mexico: Godfather Mendoza

Moldova: Queen of the Gypsies

Mongolia: The Story of the Weeping Camel
Montenegro: The Man to Destroy

Morocco: Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets
Mozambique: Sleepwalking Land

Nepal: Himalaya

Netherlands: Turkish Delight

New Zealand: Utu
Nicaragua: Alsino and the Condor

Nigeria: Sitanda

North Korea: Flower Girl

Norway: Oslo, August 31st

Pakistan: Silent Waters

Palestine: Paradise Now

Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock

Peru: The Green Wall

Philippines: Three Godless Years

Poland: The Promised Land

Portugal: Tabu

Romania: Forest of the Hanged

Russia: The Dawns Here Are Quiet

Samoa: The Orator

Saudi Arabia: Wadjda

Senegal: Hyenas

Serbia: Underground

Singapore: Ilo Ilo

Slovakia: The Sun in a Net

Slovenia: Dancing in the Rain

South Africa: District 9

South Korea: Mandala

Spain: Raise Ravens

Sri Lanka: The Treasure
Sudan: Tajouj

Suriname: One People

Sweden: The Magician

Switzerland: Alpine Fire

Syria: The Dupes

Taiwan: The Terrorizers

Tajikistan: Moon Father

Tanzania: Maangamizi: The Ancient One
Thailand: Ong-bak: The Thai Warrior

Tunisia: The Silences of the Palace

Turkey: The Herd

Ukraine: The Man with a Movie Camera

United Arab Emirates: City of Life
United Kingdom: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
United States: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Uruguay: The Silent House

Uzbekistan: Man Follows Birds

Venezuela: Araya

Vietnam: When the Tenth Month Comes

Zimbabwe: The Legend of the Sky Kingdom

Best Films of 2013

2013 was another great year for movies! Although the usual qualifier, that you wouldn't necessarily know it based on the films that received heavy marketing, remains as true as ever. There were only a handful of big-budget blockbuster entertainments that really stood out for me (Gravity, American Hustle), but this was a great year for American independent films (comedies that I actually thought were funny!) and foreign character studies.

Last year I kept holding off on a top films of 2012 post until I'd seen more, resulting in the list never getting done. I'm not going to make the same mistake this year, so expect there to be a few gaps. I did see about 50 2013 releases, but I haven't yet gotten to Her, The Past, The Act of Killing, Beyond the Hills, Dallas Buyer's Club, Captain Phillips, The Wind Rises, The Wolf of Wallstreet, At Berkley and many others.

Anyway, here is my list for 2013:

Runners Up: Wadjda, Side Effects, The World's End, Drug War, All Is Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Michael Kohlhaas, Blackfish, Europa Report, Ernest & Celestine, Philomena, Frozen, The Place Beyond the Pines, Mud, Death of a Man in the Balkans

  

20. Room 237 - Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious documentary in which five obsessive fans of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining air their opinions, interpretations and conspiracy theories accompanied by film clips, maps and highlighted stills.

19. Neighboring Sounds - Brooding Brazilian mood-piece in which a private security group offers their services to an upscale apartment building. A slow-burning but incredibly tense examination of privacy, security, trust and the psychology of modern (non)communal living.

18. The Hunt - Thomas Vinterberg revisits the theme of child abuse that he first examined in the breakout dogma 95 film Celebration, this time studying the opposite case: a kindergarten teacher accused of improper contact with a young girl. Less angry than his early films, and more nuanced and mature in terms of modulation and theme, this is an issues film that largely dodges the obvious pitfalls and finds its interest factor in both personal and sociological arenas.

17. Inside Llewyn Davis - A melancholy performance-driven Coen brothers snack about a talented but uncharismatic folk singer in the days before Dylan made it cool who finds himself emotionally and occupationally flailing due to a mix of his principles and pettiness. It costars my girlfriend's orange cat.

16. Computer Chess - A latter day mumblecore film covering an artificial intelligence chess competition in the 1980s. Perfectly captures the look, feel and attitude of the era and mines gentle, carefully-observed and increasingly surreal comedy from its socially-awkward milieu.

15. American Hustle  - A goofy heist film in love with the trappings of early 80s and having no end of fun with a top-notch cast (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper) that gains a lot from their mutual chemistry and a sassy script.

14. To the Wonder - Terrence Malick's little-loved follow-up to Tree of Life, tackles smaller-scale themes of love, depression, displacement, alienation and the ebb and flow of relationships, but does so with the same grace and beauty.

13. Before Midnight - The third part in a reliably smart and increasingly mature romantic trilogy that follows an American writer (Ethan Hawke) and a French activist (Julie Delpy). Each installment checks in on the relationship at 9 year intervals (both in real life and in film time). Now middle-aged, they deal with child-rearing, simmering disappointments  and the acceptance of each other's flaws.

12.  Ilo Ilo - Singaporean drama about a crumbling urban family, an unemployed husband, over-stressed wife and trouble-making son who finally begins to bloom after connecting with their newly employed Filipino maid during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Humble and bittersweet. Dark horse winner of the Golden Horse (best Asian film).

11. A Touch of Sin - China's most interesting director, Jia Zhangke, was shockingly not banned by his home government despite making this controversial ripped-from-the-headlines anthology of four contemporary crimes each tied to corruption and the dubious new morality of the China's selectively-booming economy.

10. Frances Ha - A scarcely-employed dancer bouncing between cheap apartments and charming friends in Brooklyn tries to get her life together after her roommate and best friend 'breaks up' with her. The energy, wit and personality of Frances Ha, not to mention Greta Gerwig's lead performance, elevates it far above the mosh pit of indistinguishably quirky aimless twenty-something dramedies that frequently try my patience.

9. The Broken Circle Breakdown - Belgium romantic tragedy about a bluegrass hippy couple that must learn to deal with their love child's cancer diagnosis. Unabashedly emotional and melodramatic in all the right ways, while also featuring great music and cinematography.

8. The Great Beauty  - 65-year-old ex-writer and self-proclaimed king of Rome's nightlife has staked his life on the outside world, the index of "beauties" that includes the natural and the artistic, the sexual and the architectural, the sacred and the grotesque. Succumbing to disappointment, not least with himself, he reflects on a memory from when beauty still stirred him inside.

7. Blue Is the Warmest Color - A long, substantive look at a lesbian teenager's first love, sexual awakening and hard-wrought search for identity. Effortlessly dives into both the shallow and deep end of love's whirlpool of emotions, pleasures and pains without simplifying or trivializing the youth and relative innocence of its characters.

6. Stories We Tell - Canadian actor/director Sarah Polley sets out to learn about her late mother by interviewing her family members and her parent's friends and associates, on one level creating a work on memory, storytelling the inevitable contradictions of multiple narrators, but also suspecting that her mother had an affair and that her real biological father is not the one who raised her.

5. Museum Hours - This virtually unsellable premise, an elderly guard at the Austrian Kunsthistorisches Museum forms a platonic friendship with a Canadian woman visiting a comatose relative, forms the surprisingly satisfying core of this peaceful, heartfelt and rather unassuming meditation on art and life.

4. Wolf Children - A rare anime that takes as its central theme the challenges of raising children, dealing first with their stressful dependence and later with their frightening independence. For Hana, a city-raised college student, it is even harder than most: she must raise her children without a husband or job, living alone in the Japanese backwoods. And also her children are werewolves.

3. 12 Years a Slave - A free African American is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South, where he struggles to survive under the ownership of a variety of men and ultimately to return home to his family. Tough viewing, but the director and his cast (including a star-making performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor) are perfectly in sync. Based on a true story.

2. Gravity - Astronauts Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are making repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope when a cloud of debris from a detonated satellite sweeps past and strands them in EVA suits adrift in orbit. They make a desperate dash between space stations, trying to find a way to land on Earth before their air runs out or their few escape options are shredded to smithereens. The long takes, nonstop tension and awe-inspiring visuals had me almost choking during my first viewing (but in a good way).

1. Upstream Color - Shane Carruth's long-awaited follow-up to 2004's Primer is a visual and auditory masterpiece and an invigoratingly inventive narrative, though it's also a bewildering headtrip that demands an abundance of attention and thought. The story involves orchids, roundworms, pigs, Walden, a hypnotist thief, a sound engineer and a couple whose moods, and perhaps even their entire relationship, is manipulated by an ecosystem of connections they will never fully grasp.  For sheer originality, ambition and near-endless debatability, Upstream Color will stay in my mind for a long time to come.

My Top 200 Favorite Horror Films

To celebrate Halloween 2013 here are my top 200 horror films. This is an admittedly idiosyncratic list, so I will explain a little about my taste:

Horror is one of my favorite genres, but I often find I have little in common with most other fans. With a few exceptions, I don’t much care for American slasher movies or comedy-horror. I don’t think horror films should be given a free pass on acting and writing. I tend to disdain sequels and remakes, and rarely bother seeing them even if I like the original. I find popular blockbuster horror films largely stale and rote, with too much reliance on formula and cliche. I think shock cinema and torture porn are largely hollow and pointless (real shock, in my opinion, is about violating expectations and denying gratification, not just showing revolting images). I'm uncomfortable with the latent one-upmanship in the horror community that values senseless gore, sadism and cruelty and I dislike that cultivating a jaded tolerance to that sort of thing is considered a badge of honor.

What I do like is psychological horror, atmosphere, surprises (including a good twist, if it makes sense), really dark or ambitious themes, strong visuals and sound design, moral complexity, originality, uncompromising endings, characters who don’t behave like idiots for the convenience of the plot and explorations of fear and death that function on multiple levels, dissecting individual and socio-cultural anxieties simultaneously. I like both dreamlike surrealism that scares me by providing a glimpse of the otherworldly or unknown and disturbing realism that scares me by confronting me with actual possibilities and hard truths. I genuinely enjoy the physical sensation of terror and I want a good horror films to frighten me (just like I want comedies to make me laugh and sad movies to make me cry), so I don’t consciously resist my emotional reactions. I actually quite enjoy discerningly-deployed practical and digital special effects (and even a healthy smattering of gore), as long as they don’t smother the screenplay. I’m quite fond of art-horror and foreign horror, especially gialli (though they have their own set of conventions). Though I think it is a lesser form of greatness, I occasionally enjoy campiness and cheesiness, but the so-bad-its-good thing usually only works for me when there is quite a bit of (often misguided) talent underneath.

So with all that in mind, let’s get back to the list. It’s got a lot of weird things on it. You may disagree with my rather generous definition of ‘horror’ as it includes multiple documentaries, musicals and martial arts films. Even I'm not sure of the ordering. But if you find yourself agreeing with the titles you recognize, you’ll have fun catching up on the one’s you don’t.

For the record, I don’t consider anything on this list filler. I like everything here (though some I haven’t seen in a long time). There are several times as many films that didn’t make the cut, so any movie that made it earned its spot and just because a movie didn’t make it doesn’t mean I’m not a fan.

I enforced a rule of only one film per series (including reboots), which is why you won’t see Aliens, Frankenstein, Cat People, Dawn of the Dead or Inferno.

If you are wondering about the absence of ‘classics’ like Halloween, Friday the 13^th (which is anyway a remake of the superior Italian Twitch of the Death Nerve), Dracula, Birds, Amityville Horror, Phantasm, The Blob, The Omen or The Wicker Man, the answer is that they didn’t make the cut.

If you think I’ve forgotten something or need to track a title down, put your recommendations in the comments section.

And now the list…

1. Possession (1981) France
2. Cremator, The (1969) Slovakia
3. Deep Red (1975) Italy
4. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
5. Se7en (1995)
6. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
7. Diabolical / Diabolique (1955) France
8. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Australia
9. Videodrome (1983) Canada
10. Eraserhead (1977)
11. Don't Look Now (1973) UK
12. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Spain
13. Saragossa Manuscript, The (1965) Poland
14. Shining, The (1980)
15. Vanishing, The (1988) Netherlands
16. House / Hausu (1977) Japan
17. White Ribbon, The (2009) Austria
18. Alien (1979)
19. Phenomena (1985) Italy
20. Gravity (2013)
21. Boxer's Omen (1983) Hong Kong
22. Peeping Tom (1960) UK
23. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
24. Vinyan (2008) France
25. Memories of Murder (2003) South Korea
26. Thing, The (1982)
27. Death Laid an Egg (1968) Italy
28. Ring, The (2002)
29. Others, The (2001) Spain
30. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
31. Threads (1984) UK
32. Descent, The (2005) UK
33. Psycho (1960)
34. Suspiria (1977) Italy
35. Exorcist, The (1973)
36. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
37. Orphanage, The (2008) Spain
38. Innocents, The (1961) UK
39. Targets (1968)
40. Night of the Hunter, The (1955)
41. Face of Another, The (1966) Japan
42. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) Czech Rep.
43. Lost Highway (1997)
44. Lunacy (2005) Czech Rep.
45. Scream (1996)
46. Trouble Every Day (2001) France
47. Cabin in the Woods (2011)
48. Cure (1997) Japan
49. Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975)
50. Repulsion (1965) UK
51. Chinese Ghost Story, A (1987) Hong Kong
52. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
53. Cloverfield (2008)
54. Nosferatu, Symphony of the Night (1922) Germany
55. Shout, The (1978) UK
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Holy Blood (Santa Sangre) (1989) Mexico
58. Fourth Man, The (1983) Netherlands
59. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) South Korea
60. Paranormal Activity (2007)
61. Shallow Grave (1994) UK
62. Dead Ringers (1988) Canada
63. Unknown, The (1927)
64. Re-Animator (1985)
65. Blue Velvet (1986)
66. Devil-Doll, The (1936)
67. Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes / The Psychic (1977) Italy
68. King Kong (1933)
69. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
70. Battle Royale (2000) Japan
71. Faust (1994) Czech Rep.
72. Hourglass Sanatorium, The (1973) Poland
73. War Game, The (1965) UK
74. Nightmare on Elm Street, A (1984)
75. Man Who Laughs, The (1928)
76. Mr. Vampire (1985) Hong Kong
77. Paranoiac (1963) UK
78. Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
79. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
80. Heavenly Creatures (1994) New Zealand
81. Pitfall (1962) Japan
82. Buried (2010) Spain
83. Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The (1970) Italy
84. Tingler, The (1959)
85. Southern Comfort (1981)
86. Save the Green Planet! (2003) South Korea
87. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (1974)
88. Finishing School, The / House that Screamed, The (1969) Spain
89. 28 Days Later... (2002) UK
90. Gozu (Cowhead) (2003) Japan
91. Eyes without a Face (1960) France
92. Triangle (2009) UK
93. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1920) Germany
94. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
95. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
96. Gemini (1999) Japan
97. Devils, The (1971) UK
98. Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945)
99. Hell (1960) Japan
100. Dr. Jekyll and His Women (1981) France
101. Carnival of Souls (1962)
102. Saw (2004)
103. Devil's Backbone, The (2001) Spain
104. Paperhouse (1988) UK
105. Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)
106. Cube (1997) Canada
107. Them! (1954)
108. Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, The (1971) Italy
109. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2009)
110. Careful (1992) Canada
111. Cache (Hidden) (2005) France
112. Stage Fright (1987) Italy
113. Martin (1978)
114. Nightbreed (1990) Canada
115. Beetlejuice (1988)
116. Freaks (1932)
117. Collector, The (1965) UK
118. Deliverance (1972)
119. Curse of the Cat People (1944)
120. Open Water (2003)
121. Theater of Blood (1973) UK
122. Red Queen Kills Seven Times, The (1972) Italy
123. Honeymoon Killers, The (1969)
124. Ghostbusters    (1986)
125. Testament (1983)
126. Shaun of the Dead (2004) UK
127. Poltergeist (1982)
128. Severance (2006) UK
129. Host, The (2006) South Korea
130. Return of the Living Dead, The (1985)
131. Phase IV (1974) UK
132. Frailty (2001)
133. Fists in the Pocket (1965) Italy
134. Sunshine (2007) UK
135. Tenebre (Unsane) (1982) Italy
136. Dead Alive (1992) New Zealand
137. Amer (2009) Belgium
138. Hellraiser (1987) UK
139. Horror of Dracula, The (1958) UK
140. [REC] (2007) Spain
141. Brain that Wouldn't Die, The (1962)
142. Kwaidan (1964) Japan
143. Blood and Black Lace (1964) Italy
144. Last Wave, The (1977) Australia
145. Brood, The (1979) Canada
146. Machinist, The (2003)
147. Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) Italy
148. Creature from the Black Lagoon, The (1954)
149. Legend of Hell House, The (1973) UK
150. Man Bites Dog (1991) Belgium
151. Killing Kind, The (1973)
152. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
153. American Psycho (2000)
154. Haunting, The (1963) UK
155. Cemetery Man (1996) Italy
156. Cell, The (2000)
157. Bad Seed, The (1956)
158. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1973) Italy
159. Predator (1987)
160. Blade (1998)
161. Ghostwatch (1992) UK
162. Seventh Victim, The (1943)
163. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
164. Stepford Wives, The (1975)
165. Deep Blue Sea (1999)
166. Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) Italy
167. Kingdom (1994) Denmark
168. Carrie (1976)
169. Splice (2009) Canada
170. Vampires in Havana (1985) Cuba
171. Angst (1983) Austria
172. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
173. Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) Japan
174. Queen of Spades, The (1949) UK
175. Misery (1990)
176. Bucket of Blood, A (1959)
177. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
178. Unbreakable (2000)
179. Hour of the Wolf (1968) Sweden
180. Fly, The (1986) Canada
181. Case of the Scorpion's Tail, The (1971) Italy
182. Arcana (1972) Italy
183. Masque of the Red Death, The (1964)
184. Evil Dead II (1987)
185. Black Sunday (1960) Italy
186. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) Japan
187. Devil and Daniel Webster, The (1941)
188. Event Horizon (1997) UK
189. Hellstrom Chronicle, The (1971)
190. Angel Heart (1987)
191. Crawling Eye, The / The Trollenberg Terror (1958) UK
192. Faust (1926) Germany
193. Troll Hunter, The (2010) Norway
194. Cronos (1993) Mexico
195. Incubus (1965)
196. God Told Me To (1976)
197. Onibaba (1964) Japan
198. Thesis (1996) Spain
199. Ginger Snaps (2000) Canada
200. Tale of Two Sisters, A (2003) South Korea

Now I Can Die!

A couple days ago I watched the last film from Steven Jay Schneider's book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die thus freeing me up to expire, pursue other hobbies or, as is most likely, continue watching more movies. I recommend the book and enjoyed the choices, though of course not everything will appeal to everyone. The choices are culled from a number of critics and film writers who explain what the films are about and why they were included. It's a fun book, given to me by my parents some years ago, that has served as a wonderful source for my exploration of the medium.

A few years ago I mentioned my love for top 1000 movie lists, which continues to this day, although I have yet to complete perhaps the definitive one curated by They Shoot Pictures Don't They. The TSPDT list is a meta-list combining top 10s from directors, critics and other film experts and it gets updated based on new material every year, an event which, I'm ashamed to admit, I anticipate with glee and terror. I've come as close as 5 films from the finish line (all damnably hard to track down), but the 2013 update has knocked me 20+ films back.

For those who care about this time of thing the 2013 update was a fairly dramatic shake-up mostly due to the 2012 once-a-decade international Sight and Sound poll which introduced 124 changes. This was the first year where I think the list got more highbrow (some of the entries go too far, but everyone has their opinion); the tendency being for more mainstream films to rise to the top and rare/challenging works to drop off as more lists are contributed. I am pleased to see a lot of my favorites movies join the list including a whopping 10 from my personal top 100:

Possession (1981), Synecdoche New York, Tree of Life, The Intruder (2004), El Topo, Harakiri, Yellow Submarine, Repo Man, The White Ribbon, No Country for Old Men, WALLE, A Separation, Dancer in the Dark, The Holy Mountain, Stardust Memories, Amelie, Koyaanisqatsi and Tale of Tales are among my favorite newcomers!

I've still got my work cut out for me finishing the TSPDT list (especially if I actually intend to sit through Empire, Andy Warhol's 8 hour shot of the Empire State Building) and no end of other movie lists, but finishing 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die leaves a certain void that I need to fill. Fortunately the 1001 series has branched out to other areas! I'm at 255 from 1001 Books You Must Read and 343 on the rather dubious 1001 Videogames You Must Play.

Here are some other lists I may (or may not) work on:
1001 Disc Golf Courses You Must Play Before You Die (I only wish)
1001 Kittens You Must Snuggle Before You Die
1001 War Crimes You Must Commit Before You Die (worthwhile just to see who contributed)
1001 Yarns You Must Spin Before You Dye (for Sarah)
1001 Odors You Must Smell Before You Die
1001 Animals You Must Taxidermy Before You Die
1001 Trains You Must Spot Before You Die (this probably exists)
1001 Pages You Must Turn Before You Die (abridged edition)
1001 1001 Lists You Must Check Off Before You Die

Reasons I Don't Review Romances

Part I

In case you didn't read the reviews before you went the theater, here's a cheat sheet:

If you're watching a film about a man trying to decide between women, odds are pretty goods it's billed as Serious Drama and will be applauded for its "insight into life and love."

If you're watching a film about a woman trying to decide between men, odds are pretty good it's billed as romantic comedy and it won't win any awards.


Part II

A woman is courted by two men.

This is how is plays out in the movies:

    90.0% - One turns out to be a total jerk and the other is Mr. Right. The choice is easy and destined to work out.

    9.0% - It's a tough choice but one of the men nobly bows out or dies, or they both do, or the woman does, usually by suicide or she ends up with some unexpected third guy.

    0.9% - It's a tough choice. She chooses ones. The other is heartbroken but eventually gets over it.

    0.1% - She chooses to remain single.


This is how it plays out in real life:

    90.0% - It's a tough choice. She chooses ones. The other is heartbroken but eventually gets over it.

    9.0% - She chooses to remain single.

    0.9% - One turns out to be a total jerk and the other is Mr. Right. The choice is easy and destined to work out.

    0.1% - It's a tough choice but one of the men nobly bows out or dies, or they both do, or the woman does, usually by suicide, or she ends up with some unexpected third guy.


Part III

In case you are watching a movie about romantic pursuit and have to leave before you catch the ending, here's what happened:

If you're watching a film about a guy under 16 pursuing a girl, he'll impress her in a sport, competition, disaster or alien invasion by succeeding, through hard work and a zany unconventional last-ditch-effort plan while gaining enough confidence to finally ask her out directly, but instead choose his loyal but Hollywood-plain best-friend since childhood.

If you're watching a film about a guy 16-30 pursuing a woman, he'll disguise himself and/or get close to her under false pretenses but when it all comes out she'll forgive him. Otherwise he'll end up with the cute (but not necessarily sexy) outcast who helped him with the ruse.

If you're watching a film about a guy over 30 pursuing a woman, she'll be younger than him and either re-invigorate his routine life with her refreshingly spunky sense of adventure and carefree charmingly-bipolar personality or she'll draw him into committing a crime, betray him and leave him to die.

If you're watching a film about a gal under 16 pursuing a boy, she'll disguise herself and/or get close to him under false pretenses but when it all comes out he'll forgive her. Otherwise she'll end up with the clean-cut (but just a little dorky) school outcast who helped her with the ruse.

If you're watching a film about a gal 16-30 pursuing a man, they'll be fiercely competitive school or career rivals despite their obvious chemistry until they unite against a common threat and instantly forgive all their past insults. Later they'll ignore the fact that their highly-driven, competitive natures mean that they'll probably go back to fighting when, post-adventure, they try to have a real relationship, but by then the movie will already be over so who cares, right?

If you're watching a film about a gal over 30 pursuing a man, then it's a movie no one has heard of because the studio didn't believe in it, pulled the marketing and dumped it on a few screens in March.

If you're watching a film about anyone pursuing anyone and it doesn't work out (gasp!) and someone ends up (double gasp!) single, then it is must have been either Melodrama and somebody died just when their perfect love had beaten all the odds or it was Art and the characters were talky intellectuals/artists with iffy ideas about fidelity and the lesson will be that emotional entanglements suck, but we can't live without them, enjoy the good times while they last and have a laugh at its absurdity now and then (but don't bother re-evaluating your life or, you know, being a self-centered jerk).

And if the film was about anyone pursuing anyone of the same gender (triple gasp!), then it was definitely Art, though it might still be Melodrama too. The ending was that society couldn't tolerate their forbidden love and at least one person got killed. We definitely won't get to see a complicated long-term sustainable homosexual relationship or find out that it looks a lot like a complicated long-term sustainable heterosexual relationship, but nobody wants to see a movie about complicated long-term sustainable relationships anyway so no big deal.

Titles That Lie

A friend brought my attention to how Abbott and Costello never actually go to Mars in Abbott and Costello  Go to Mars and I got to thinking about the way different movie titles lie or mislead. I asked my coworkers to throw in some suggestions. Here’s a list of some favorites:

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars – Except that they don’t. They go to Marti Gras and Venus.

The Greatest Story Ever Told – I’ve seen better. Frequently.

Troll 2 – Not only isn’t there an ‘original’ Troll movie, there aren’t even any trolls. The movie’s about goblins.

Curse of the Cat People – This “sequel” to Cat People has neither curses nor cat people. It’s actually a rather touching story about a child whose dead mother becomes her invisible friend.

Only Angels Have Wings – What about birds, bats, some insects, planes, pegasi, dragons, large estates, libraries, theaters, windmills, soccer teams, Paul McCartney and Hooters?

Armageddon – The title promises one thing, and then the movie deliberately doesn’t give it to you.

The Last Picture Show – This came out in 1971 and there’ve been bunches since.

White Men Can’t Jump – Patently untrue.

The Neverending Story – More accurately The 1 Hour 42 Minute Story. Hmmm… not as catchy.

Boys Don’t Cry – While it’s true that boys don’t have emotions, they often cry when chopping onions.

Mission Impossible – Unless they make a movie about Tom Cruise trying to divide by zero or something, it would be more honest to rename the franchise Mission Improbable.

They Won’t Believe Me – Spoiler: They do… only too late.

It’s a Wonderful Life – It’s kind of eh.

To Kill a Mocking Bird – The early screenings had a lot of disappointed hunters expecting a documentary.

A Thousand Clowns – Falls 999 clowns short.

I, Robot – Though the title comes from Isaac Asimov’s short story collection, the film is actually an adaptation of Jeff Vintar’s Hardwired (but considering that Hardwired takes place within a single room, it’s not very faithful to that either). The movie is about robots rebelling and killing, the exact opposite of what they do in Asimov’s works: serving and protecting.

Dead Man Walking – Not a zombie movie.

Serenity – One of the least apt spaceship names in science-fiction.

Back to the Future – Should really be Back to the Present and, besides, they travel to the past.

Can’t Hardly Wait – A movie about a bunch of high school graduates, none of whom are eagerly anticipating college. They’re either stuck in the past or living in the moment.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Sounds like it ought to be a great youtube video, but it’s actually about Elizabeth Taylor shrieking and Paul Newman sulking.

The Longest Day – Set on June 6^th, 1944 although the longest day in 1944 was actually June 21^st.

Fidelity – It’s more often about the opposite.

Eyes Without a Face – More a case of too many faces than too few.

Brazil – Not set there; not a single scene.

To Have and Have Not – “Adapted” from the novel by Ernest Hemingway if by adapted you mean has the same title and a few characters with matching names. The plot was shamelessly plucked from Casablanca.

Made in the USA – A French film.

The Movie Game 2.0

Ever since I posted the movie game on this blog (see right-hand sidebar) I've been making small adjustments and adding new cards. Playing the movie game has become a staple of my lunch breaks at work. I kept meaning to add the 'full game', meaning a version that included actors and directors, but lack of time, will power and a clear plan held me back.

I finally decided to buckle down and get it done and I'm proud to say that the Movie Game 2.0 is now available. For those who haven't seen it, here's how it works:

You push the "Draw Cards" button and two things (genres, decades, sets, props, etc.) appear. You try to think of a movie that fits both. There are no especially right or wrong answers, no points and no way to 'win'. All you need to play is to have seen a few movies.  You don't even need to know any names.

But if you do know the names of a lot of actors or directors you'll love this new update.

Here's what's new in version 2.0:

• The regular deck now includes 700+ cards (500,000+ permutations!)
• You can now play with names, over 1,300 of them! That's 2000+ total cards.
• Game modes let you chose whether to include proper names or not.
• Select the difficulty (rather subjective, but I've tried my hardest) of names as well as the number of names per card and the jobs (actor, director, crew) you want to allow to create your own personalize game style.
• 'Special' difficulty gives you nearly 300 themed sets of names.
• Try playing with six-degrees of separation rules.

There will also be plenty of bugs and spelling errors no doubt. Bear with me. I hope to get it worked out and, of course, I'll be making periodic updates to add yet more cards.

My next big step will probably be to put together a mobile app version. I'm also thinking of expanding the game modes and putting together a backside database. I'd love to get pictures by the names, or links to imdb, or something to help people out when they don't recognize someone. Feel free to send me ideas.

Thanks to everyone who helped make 2.0 possible!