While being an individual who detests change, I find it easy to embrace the rifts in the road life takes me on as I remind myself that I am where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing.
When it was time for me to sit down and select my classes for the second semester, this Introduction to Film class wasn’t my first choice, but it was the one that stuck, and now that the class is coming to an end, I am filled with a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment that I wound up taking it. It gave me a broader viewpoint into a medium that I already know and love: the world of films, ranging from silent black-and-white pictures to modern day Tarantino films, and these movies listed were a few that moved me more than I’d expected them to — and I believe everyone should see once in their lifetime.
1. Laura
To this day, I still struggle to wrap my head around why this film was my favorite during the entire semester. An old-fashioned murder mystery, the characters engage each other and the audience in a way that is simply riveting. It surprised me several times, and I found that it executed the point it tried to make well: one that I can’t spoil.
2. The Man With The Movie Camera
A city symphony film, the audience follows a cameraman’s depiction of the everyday life of an ordinary individual in the Soviet Union, and the short takes serve to keep everyone’s attention held in a thrilling manner. There is something new to discover each time one watches it, and that is worth a lot.
3. Sunrise
While this film may cause you to stare in confusion a lot of the time, if you suspend your disbelief long enough, it becomes a cute story about a husband and a wife falling back in love after their marriage has crumbled. (And I do realize that this relationship is toxic and unhealthy, but as entertainment, it sits well. It’s funny, fresh, and fascinating.)
4. Lucky Star
This is another Janet Gaynor film. Like Sunrise, you have to suspend your disbelief and allow the director to showcase this tale of two young people falling in love. If you take it seriously, you will not enjoy it—and the ending will anger you. But the acting and central relationship are incredible if you take the time to soak it all in. Borzage knows how to write a romance, and he does it well.5. Rope
When you think of Hitchcock, “Psycho” might be the first film that popped into your head, but I am so glad that this was the film that was selected to play for us. Again, Hitchcock knows how to play around with the darkness of the human mind, and if you pay attention, he makes it quite clear that the murder falls over everyone’s head—and not just on the heads of the principal characters who committed it. Even the audience is complicit in the murder. It feels very much like a game, and with the long camera shots, there is no real evidence of a cut in the footage, and the audience is kept on their toes, waiting to see whether the crime will be discovered.
I didn’t provide much of a summary of these selections because I feel like you’ll enjoy them more going in without much of a background. These films aren’t what I’d usually pick out. For one, I’d probably pick a movie that isn’t silent. But the variety in these movies and how much I wound up enjoying them prove that life comes in many dimensions, and we should be open to exploring if only to expand how much our minds can absorb.