Angel Dust on 16/7/2009 at 05:20

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I spent my youth watching the Indy, Star Wars and Back To The Future trilogies, as well as plenty of Arnie flicks, over and over again. I was aware you liked The Fountain as that was what I was thinking of when I wrote 'generally' :cheeky:

As for recommendations there is no harm in starting with the big names. Fellini was someone I immediately fell in love with although I would think that perhaps his stuff might be a bit 'freeform floaty' for you. However his films have a lightness of touch and are generally not ponderous, serious arty types. 8 1/2 would be my pick.
Bergman is someone I have a mixed view on. I loved The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries but found Smiles of a Summer Night and The Virgin Spring to be a bit dull. You can't really go wrong with The Seventh Seal though as it's quite accessible as well as being suprisingly humourous. Not rolling in the aisles funny but Death as well as the knight's squire have some dry lines.
From time to time what I do is check out what is generally seen as a famous director's, who I haven't seen anything of, top work, and I'm quite lucky to have a highly knowledgable film academic running the local DVD store, and go from there. Sometimes I find unexpected delights, like Fellini's stuff, and sometimes I strike out, the two Antonioni films I've seen have been dull, but it's always interesting.
Some random recommendations: Badlands, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Fitzcarraldo, Three Colours: Red, Cocteau's Beauty and The Beast.

What do you think of Kurosawa Scots? I would think that most of his work would be right up your alley.

Aja on 16/7/2009 at 05:23

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I'm not even a cinemaphile but this pains me. You meet all the qualifications for literary enjoyment, and with only a bit of effort the payoff can be, well, profound.

not to mention you get to act all snotty toward whatever you deem "sub-literary"

Scots Taffer on 16/7/2009 at 05:34

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And I never saw any of the preceding movies either.



Funny when I originally wrote my post I put in "I'm sure you'll recommend Bergman and Felini" so I guess I should get around to them.

Also, can you believe that I've never seen a single Kurosawa?
I've downloaded Seven Samurai and still not found the time to watch it in one sitting.



I already get to act snobby with regard to people who say ITS POPCORN CHEWING ENTERTAINMENT to pass over any piece of shit as cinema as I actually require my entertainment to not be offensively puerile.

However, it should be said that I fully regard this lack of genuine interest in my expanding my horizons a failing. Especially with books, I just cannot find the time though - a lame excuse but one that I am clinging to tenaciously.

edit: It's like Tonamel says, it's not that I can't enjoy them but maybe it's just that I have high standards and don't give much weight to artistic/literary movies (and books) that don't sell their artistic premise to me entirely and in a short space of time.

Angel Dust on 16/7/2009 at 05:40

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You should definitely check out The Killing as it's one of the great heist movies, depsite the somewhat naff ending.

For Kurosawa: Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Stray Dog, High and Low, Ikiru and Rashomon are all great, are most are not too long ;) And yeah, Bergman and Fellini are the obvious answers but I think it's better to start there than to go jumping into Herzog and Tarkovsky.

Queue on 16/7/2009 at 05:44

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I was just about to mention Herzog. One of the most interesting films I've ever watched was Heart of Glass--wouldn't say the greatest film, but definitely original in "execution".

And give some of the old masters a whirl: like Frtiz Lang and John Huston.