Here is yet again another movie post coming at you from your's truly. This list is a little more interesting because it contains movies that I was, more or less, forced to watch in school but ended up actually really liking.
For those of you that know me, you know that I went to college to study Mass Media Communications and so one of the required classes that most people take in their first year starting this major is some type of film class.
When I took my first film class, the setup every week was to come in, watch a movie, and then discuss it with the class using fancy cinematography language to describe such things like themes, camera angles, etc.
After I had finished a semester in that class, I fell in love with classes of the same nature so I took one dealing with just East Asian films.
Then I decided to take up a minor in film, just to realize that if I wanted to graduate in a decent amount of time, I wouldn't be able to finish the minor. Nonetheless, I decided to take anther introductory film class, and then in my last semester in college, I took an avant garde film class.
Even though a couple of these classes were a little hard, (can you guess which ones?), looking back, I'm glad I took them and I came out really enjoying some movies that I would have never thought of to watch on my own.
With that being said, I've put together a small list of five films, pulling from all my film classes, that I ended up being really fond of.
Disclaimer: some of these movies may be classics that many people have seen before, since they've been out for a while, but I don't watch every movie that's ever made so please excuse my delay in discovering these great movies.
Another (more important) disclaimer: there may be spoilers, so read at your own risk!
1. "Run Lola Run" (1998)
This is a German film and it's literally one story that gets repeated multiple times throughout the film, but each time it happens, the events of the story change slightly to have a different outcome. It's the epitome of saying "What if I didn't do that, but did this instead...would it have turned out differently?" It's almost like a choose-your-own ending type of movie. It gives you all the options of how the story could go. By the way, that story being that a woman needs to come up with a large amount of cash in a very small amount of time to save her boyfriend's life.
2. "Battle Royale" (2000)
3. "Memento" (2000)
You can't go wrong with a Christopher Nolan film. Guy Pearce plays a character that is on a mission to hunt down the person who murdered his wife, but there's a catch. He suffers from severe memory loss. He can only remember life before his wife died, and because he can only remember things within a 15 minute time period, he uses polaroid pictures and notes to help him remember people, places, and events. The movie plays out forward, but every time an event of importance in his journey takes place, the movie rewinds a bit and replays the scene which reveals vital information to the viewer (aka unrestricted range of knowledge/dramatic irony for my film buffs out there). This makes the movie a little confusing at first because nothing really goes in a concise order but you get the hang of it sooner or later.
4. "Exit Through The Gift Shop" (2010)
If you've heard of Bansky, the well hidden rebel with a bottle of spray paint, then you need to watch this film. It's actually directed by Bansky himself and reveals a lot about his art and his fellow artisans. Don't get your hopes up too much though, he doesn't reveal himself on camera. Written as a comedy, the film does turn into kind of a documentary about a French guy who films street artists doing their thing who Bansky becomes friends with and later dubs the guy "Mr. Brainwash" and helps him create his own art. The lines are then blurred and the viewer starts to question if the film is about Mr. Brainwash and his art, or if it's still Bansky at work making Mr. Brainwash an art piece himself.
5. "Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles" (1975)
If you think the title is long, wait until you hear the running time of this film — it's 201 minutes. That's three and half hours, people! Hear me out though, because this movie wouldn't be on my list if it wasn't worth it. I will suggest that you watch it with multiple people who will collectively force you to watch the whole thing until the end because if you watch it alone on your own time you're most likely going to shut it off within the first hour (I know I would have). However, if you're really determined, then you're actually in for a big treat. Let me explain a little without trying to give too much away. This French film is a minimalist film. That means, minimal dialogue, minimal action, minimal editing, minimal storyline...I think you get the point. The entire film follows a single mother, (very closely), on her daily activities for three days straight. There's silence, repetition, confusion, and frustration all throughout. I believe in you though, you can do it! Trust me, those three and half hours make the ending so worth it like you wouldn't believe. Don't spoil it for yourself either by looking up the ending on Google. You'll be very satisfied that you didn't.
If you haven't watched any of these, like I hadn't before taking my film classes in college, I hope you have the time to check them out and like them as much as I do.
Happy watching!
