The Visitor

Movies

Se indignaron [...] porque un personaje muerto y sepultado en una película, y por cuya desgracia se derramaron lágrimas de aflicción, reapareció vivo y convertido en árabe en la película siguiente. [...] Muchos estimaron que habían sido víctimas de un nuevo y aparatoso asunto de gitanos, de modo que optaron por no volver a ir al cine, considerando que ya tenían bastante con sus propias penas, para llorar por fingidas desventuras de seres imaginarios.
Cien Años de soledad, Gabriel García Márquez.

Yet to be seen

Do you have this feeling sometimes you're for nothing but watching a movie. And realize you have no clue whatsoever which. A movie is like a restaurant, it's not something you should improvise at the last minute. Here I compile a list of movies that remain for us to see.

Movies we want to/should see: (may be with a reason why)

Stroke out are those that I've seen, see below. I add to this list at the bottom.

1. movies from the Coen brothers: Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, Barton Fink.
   • Given that of the three Coen brothers movies I know, two are among the best I've ever seen (Fargo and the big Lebowski), and the third one (No country for old men) is also a masterpiece, it's only natural to check the other things they've been working on... it might just as well be equally genial.
2. Gene Wilder's movies: Young Frankenstein and The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.
   • I like the actor. He's great in Silver streak (allegedly Knuth's favourite movie) and his performance in Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask is the only bit of the movie which is good.
3. Citizen Kane. Classic.
4. L'homme de Rio.
   • Some scenes are in Brasilia while it was in construction. The story looks fun (after Hergé's album, l'Oreille cassée).
5. Singin' in the Rain. Classic.
6. Triumph of the Will. Historic document. Apparently, also a classic.
7. Jésus de Montréal.
   • I'm interested in adaptations of the gospels or biblical texts in general in modern settings (see Jour de Feu of Barjavel for a nice one in litterature, that should also have been a movie). Also, I love Quebecers' accent.
8. Memorias del Subdesarrollo. On Cuba.
9. Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise). Classic.
10. La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game). Classic.
11. Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief). Classic (Elena however tells me she doesn't like it).
12. Seven Samurai. Classic.
13. Броненосец Потёмкин (Battleship Potemkin). Classic.
14. Plan 9 from Outer Space.
    • Supposed to be the worst film ever, so bad it's actually good [1].
15. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Classic.
16. 8½ (Otto e mezzo). Classic.
17. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Classic.
18. Tokyo story. Classic.
19. Searching for Bobby Fischer. About this not-grandmaster who is also a champion of martial art.
20. Un roi sans divertissement. From Giono's masterpiece (directed by Giono himself). Music by Brel.
21. L'Année dernière à Marienbad which I didn't hear about until Inception.
22. Serenity, once voted the greatest science fiction film of all time by SFX magazine.
23. A Hard Day's Night, a classic, also allegedly very good (featuring the Beatles during the height of Beatlemania).
24. Mon oncle Antoine, a French Canadian movie (I love them) that is highly rated .
25. Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona, a cult Israelian comedy.
26. El callejón de los milagros, famous in Mexico.
27. Sexmission, Polish comedy, recommended by Luboš Motl.
28. The dead father. I didn't know there was a movie!
29. Cemetery Junction. I am a fan of Ricky Gervais.
30. The Boys from Brazil, initially I came to learn of this movie for the comparison between the score by Jerry Goldsmith [2] with one by Patrick Williams for a Columbo episode [3]. As the story is a surreal plot about cloning Hitler involving actors such as Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck, I could but put it on my list!
31. The Secret Agent, I know the score by Philip Glass, the novel has quite a reputation too, so I also put it on my reading list.
32. 127 hours, I learned of the movie when I put myself in a similar situation (with a rope anchoring a boat instead of my arm).
33. Ludwig by Visconti [4][5], on the mysterious and fanciful Bavarian king.
34. Monster's Ball. Staring the man who wasn't there in another movie shot the same year and with, apparently, equal critical acclaim.
35. Jim Jarmusch's movies such as Dead man or Stranger Than Paradise, recommended by a Berlin friend and cinema connoisseur.
36. Fictions (openly made so) about the WWII era, such as It Happened Here.
37. Movies about the WWII era from that period, such as Night Train to Munich (1940) or The Hitler Gang (1944).
38. Looking for the above, I found Иди и смотри (Idi i smotri), a Soviet version.
39. The man from earth, a repeat from a Twilight Zone episode, about this man who doesn't age.
40. Beatitudes [6], a short movie from Aristotelis Maragkos [7] (we personally know his sister) set in rioting Athens.
41. Mishima, on the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, music by Glass.
42. Yûkoku [8], the only movie directed by Mishima himself.
43. Les Maîtres du Temps [9]. As a child, I once saw part of a fantastic sci-fi animated movie, in eerie sceneries. I remember very little apart from the magic it exerted on me. There were at least two stories running in parallel, one involving a journey farther and farther in some sort of deserts with landscapes. I could never later identify which movie it was. Reading an obituary of Jean Giraud (Mœbius), I arrived to this movie featuring his artwork and which, maybe, is the lost encounter of my childhood.
44. The visitor, recommended by Elena's parents [10].
45. Water, [11] recommended by Inma.
46. Le Diable et les Dix Commandements, movie by Duvivier with some dialogues by Barjavel.
47. Ecstasy (1933), featuring the Mathematician Hedy Lamar, the most beautiful woman of Europe, interpreting on screen the first acted woman orgasm [12].
48. Stanley Kubrick's movies we haven seen yet or don't know by heart: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing,Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Full Metal Jacket.
49. Spoorloos [13], a story around an abduction.
50. The Quiet Earth [14], a man awakes to find he is alone on earth.
51. Mr. Nobody [15], a tale that spans different time zones of the 20th and 21st centuries.
52. The Statement [16], the last of Norman Jewison movies.
53. Шахматная горячка (Chess fever)~[17], with Capablanca himself.
54. Suspiria, a classic of the horror genre (Giallo).
55. Magicians [18], featuring Mitchell and Webb.
56. 風立ちぬ (Kaze tachinu, The Wind Rises), last movie of Miyazaki.
57. Al Pacino's movies such as Scarface [19], Scarecrow [20], Donnie Brasco [21], Heat [22], Carlito's Way [23], Scent of a woman [24], ...And Justice for All [25].
58. Goodfellas [26], classic.
59. Other movies of interest from Alain Resnais which we haven't seen at the occasion of his passing away: La guerre est finie (on the Spanish civil war), L'an 01 (on a reset of society) or Stavisky (on the life an death of this peculiar figure).
60. Make Way for Tomorrow [27] the movie that inspired Tokyo Story.
61. Il vangelo secondo Matteo [28] seems necessary after having seen Salò.
62. Antichrist [29].
63. Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! [30] (recommended by Rebecca Tabales).
64. The Fault in Our Stars (recommended by Garrett Lisi).

Movies from the previous list we have seen since

You might follow the link if you want some recommendation or know our/my personal feelings (not all are clickable, as a matter of fact, few currently are).

1. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.
2. Tokyo Story.
3. Jésus de Montréal.
4. L'homme de Rio.
5. L'Année dernière à Marienbad.
6. Cemetery Junction.
7. 127 hours.
8. The Man Who Wasn't There.
9. Mishima.
10. The Visitor.
11. Les Maîtres du Temps.
12. Mon oncle Antoine.
13. Full Metal Jacket.

Also:

• Another list of movies we have seen.

Other pages of interest

• List of scary movies (from Elena)
• Fabrice's favourites.
• Short comments on ordinary movies.

Links

• The Internet Movie Database