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DVDs weren't out yet, so please ignore my box set
The hundred movies meme was even harder to assemble because I spent far more of my childhood and adolescence immersed in books than in movies and therefore many of the films on this list were not so much formative as illuminating once I finally started paying attention to cinema as an art form, and/or they wired themselves instantly into my brain and are quoted regularly to this day. A list of favorites might overlap significantly but not identically, I imagine tilting more heavily toward sff and noir. I feel it may be a much more mainstream list than my formative books, although still full of meaningful absences. (I sacrificed a number of classics as well as movies whose circumstances were potentially more important than their content, but just glitched on The Medium (1951) and Katerina Izmailova (1966), both of which I even own.) I find it very difficult to try to winnow accurately. I may just not be designed for this format of meme.
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I don't think many that will surprise you, and at least two that I watched on your rec - Singing in the Rain, Splash (I remember almost nothing about it, but I'm sure I saw it off the telly way back when), Wizard of Oz, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (which maybe should have been on mine, I thought after posting it), PotC Dead Man's Chest, then three that we both had on the list - I Capture the Castle, A Canterbury Tale, The Browning Version; Cash on Demand, Brides of Dracula, & Persuasion 1995. (A Canterbury Tale and Cash on Demand were via your recs; obv I'd been curious about the 1951 TBV for a while, although you may well have given me the final push.)
And I have watched a version of Tale of Two Cities, but it was the 1950s one with Dirk Bogarde, I think. I also have Pimpernel Smith on my DVR to watch. It has been there for YEARS, since before I knew you, because people have been telling me I would like it ever since I got on LJ! (I don't want to watch it downstairs on a Bad Day and disappoint everyone by getting cross with it instead, which would be awful.)
I think I am just not a hundred-film person, which is nuts to contemplate.
There are a lot of wonderful fictional things in the world, of all kinds. Memes are so limited. <3
I would honestly love to hear which movies turned you completely off their genres/styles/themes. That is not usually discussed as often when talking about experiences with media.
I was thinking about this the other day, for two reasons, one of which was because I took The Abyss on and off the film list several times and I'm not sure I shouldn't have left it on still, and the other because I suddenly clicked as to why I can't enjoy TV & film that uses anything approaching rather static recreations of artwork or photographs as a device, particularly if the dialogue/personal interacts are also minimal - because my Media Studies teacher made us watch a film that I can't identify, but which was some arthouse thing that was solely made up of characters in the 1950s arranging themselves into family photographs, which was the one film we couldn't get through. I've hit on several highly praised things that have just set my hair on end, and it only finally dawned on me this last week that it's probably an understandable reaction - I can still quite viscerally remember the intensity of the frustration and boredom over the course of two or three (quite long!) lesson sessions. And of course, because in all media, no matter how much I have learned over the years to know how to enjoy and read more of the visual element, I am all about the words and if the words stop for too long without what I feel to be good reason or substitute, I pack up and go home. Whereas being too wordy, save for over-explaining, I can forgive all too easily. Such a relatable crime! Barely a crime at all!
Anyway, I have an issue with claustrophic settings in film, and I both very much enjoyed The Abyss (I left it off in the end because it has been at least 30+ years since we watched it and I have a vague feeling that I was let down by the ending but I cannot swear to anything; maybe I loved the ending) and discovered just how tense watching anything set where there was a persistent danger of asphyxiation was, aka, I Do Not Do the Submarines. But I also remember the experience quite vividly as a positive, probably all the more so because I was warier ever after as a consequence and wouldn't watch anything else like it.
As I've said, at one time, my Dad would record anything that was a film premiere that was under an 18 and not a horror or a romance that BBC and ITV showed and then we would watch it, so the category of films I would do best in would be late 1980s/very early 1990s films, excepting any 18 certs and horror or romance. In addition to the Abyss, Middle Sis & I also watched Dead Calm with Nicole Kidman and Sleeping With the Enemy with Julia Roberts, and even though I did enjoy them, DC particularly, I also learned that thrillers were also a bit more tense than I liked as a rule. (Middle Sis, in contrast, just embarked on a mission to see more Nicole Kidman.)
I wish I was a bit more well and could watch a few more exceptions in those categories, though. Apart from the static recreation of paintings and photographs, for which you can blame whoever made whatever that no doubt admirable art film that scarred me for life.
I included television productions if they were feature-length! I also excluded short films, which was unfair, because I do have some I deeply love.
Yes, I noticed you also had Penda's Fen and The Stone Tape in there! As I was making a TV list and a film list, I was unsure what to do with those kinds of things, but I ended up only including a couple of Austen adaptations in one-offs, I think, and those seemed to sit more naturally in the TV. (I watched them that way, anyway - Persuasion on BBC2 when they repeated it and Northanger Abbey as part of ITV's 2007 Austen season.)
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It is one of the earliest movies I can remember seeing after Singin' in the Rain; like the majority of movies in our house at the time, it was also taped off the television and I watched it over and over and over again. I've only written a little about it, but it's an entire substrate in my brain. I may still be disappointed that my skin in the bath did not crinkle into scales.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (which maybe should have been on mine, I thought after posting it)
That was the second film I saw in theaters! Because of their release dates, I was six years old for both of them. I am not sure either film was actually for children, but here we are.
(A Canterbury Tale and Cash on Demand were via your recs; obv I'd been curious about the 1951 TBV for a while, although you may well have given me the final push.)
I don't think I knew you had seen Cash on Demand because of me! I'm so glad it was congenial to you, especially since you tell me that thrillers are generally out of your zone.
I also have Pimpernel Smith on my DVR to watch. It has been there for YEARS, since before I knew you, because people have been telling me I would like it ever since I got on LJ! (I don't want to watch it downstairs on a Bad Day and disappoint everyone by getting cross with it instead, which would be awful.)
That is a terrible weight of expectation. I can promise that I will not take it personally if you don't like it very much. (I will still love it, though.)
I suddenly clicked as to why I can't enjoy TV & film that uses anything approaching rather static recreations of artwork or photographs as a device, particularly if the dialogue/personal interacts are also minimal - because my Media Studies teacher made us watch a film that I can't identify, but which was some arthouse thing that was solely made up of characters in the 1950s arranging themselves into family photographs, which was the one film we couldn't get through.
Huh! I would love to know what the film was, although I understand you may have blocked out the information in self-defense. I am also guessing that Peter Greenaway is not your bag.
But I also remember the experience quite vividly as a positive, probably all the more so because I was warier ever after as a consequence and wouldn't watch anything else like it.
I can see that. If I ever manage to watch The Abyss, I will let you know what I think of the ending!
Yes, I noticed you also had Penda's Fen and The Stone Tape in there!
Robin Redbreast almost made it, but got edged out by something else I couldn't bear to lose. I should just have made a list of favorites and simplified the problem.
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I think the thing with thrillers is, that I actually often really like them & some of my favourites list would definitely count as thrillers, but I'm picky and I need to have a certain amount of brain to watch them or at least a fave in them, or something else to push me towards it. I do seem to really love certain kinds of thinky thrillers that I'm not sure is a very classifiable or helpful subgenre or entirely covers the kind that I do like. I've worked out a better idea of where my horror line is; I'll get there with the thrillers, too, hopefully. I think it'll always be a bit dependent on who recs it or who's in it and the like, but I think also I just ruled them out altogether because I had to while I was so ill, and it just didn't occur to me that maybe that's not been the case for years already. (Although I do want to be less likely to suddenly dip down energy-levels-wise into a state where I end up ruining films by watching them in 10-20mins installments over days/weeks/months. Few films can stand up to it, and I don't think I could cope with being kept in suspense that long, either.)
I'm not so worried about older films on that front anyway! It was easy to watch and gave good Peter Cushing, which was what you promised me, so I had a nice time.
Huh! I would love to know what the film was, although I understand you may have blocked out the information in self-defense.
I don't know! I've been trying to work it out for years, but if you can think of a better way of doing so than typing in variations of "film made up of family photographs" into a search engine every so often, I haven't. It would have had to have been made prior to 1993 and it must have been at least partially set in the 1950s, as we watched it as part of our using the Fifties for media constructs of a period.
I am also guessing that Peter Greenaway is not your bag.
I've never watched any of his, I don't think. You never know, it depends a lot. At least now I've finally twigged what it probably is that bugs me about it, I may get a bit better at dealing with it when it crops up. XD
can see that. If I ever manage to watch The Abyss, I will let you know what I think of the ending!
I remember it being very compelling and being very impressed with Ed Harris, but I can't remember anything else, other than also at the same time learning that I'm more claustrophic than I realised.
I should just have made a list of favorites and simplified the problem.
It's hard! Now that we're all talking about all these films, my brain keeps randomly coughing up others that probably had more impact on me than recent watches, but which I'd forgotten.
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So noted! Then if you haven't seen Bedelia (1946), which would have gone on the noir list if I had remembered it before this afternoon, it's got Margaret Lockwood.
(Although I do want to be less likely to suddenly dip down energy-levels-wise into a state where I end up ruining films by watching them in 10-20mins installments over days/weeks/months. Few films can stand up to it, and I don't think I could cope with being kept in suspense that long, either.)
(At least serials were written to be installments!)
I don't know! I've been trying to work it out for years, but if you can think of a better way of doing so than typing in variations of "film made up of family photographs" into a search engine every so often, I haven't. It would have had to have been made prior to 1993 and it must have been at least partially set in the 1950s, as we watched it as part of our using the Fifties for media constructs of a period.
It just seems like a really distinctive conceit and almost unsearchable! I'll let you know if I run across anything that sounds possible.
I've never watched any of his, I don't think. You never know, it depends a lot. At least now I've finally twigged what it probably is that bugs me about it, I may get a bit better at dealing with it when it crops up.
Just because he has a lot of tableau-like visuals! Prospero's Books (1991) is very much in this style and I also like it.
Now that we're all talking about all these films, my brain keeps randomly coughing up others that probably had more impact on me than recent watches, but which I'd forgotten.
This is how comments in both the book and the film posts have gone. Just an endless succession of "Oh, right, that one!"
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Yet another for the list!
It just seems like a really distinctive conceit and almost unsearchable! I'll let you know if I run across anything that sounds possible.
Thank you. (I feel like it was a UK thing, but I can't remember enough to swear to anything - yet I think what I recall was v working class family life. It was in colour. I don't remember feeling that it seemed an old film. I got the impression the teacher had obtained something too new to be properly out or something maybe.)
Just because he has a lot of tableau-like visuals! Prospero's Books (1991) is very much in this style and I also like it.
It sounds interesting! (Ironically enough, I loved the tableaux at our Carnival, but then people standing stock still in highly dramatic poses on a carnival cart to music for hours is a tricky feat, whereas I feel like actors should move and talk, not stand around in beautifully framed positions for more than is natural, lol.)
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I need a month to do nothing but sleep and write about movies and I just don't see one in my future.
(I feel like it was a UK thing, but I can't remember enough to swear to anything - yet I think what I recall was v working class family life. It was in colour. I don't remember feeling that it seemed an old film. I got the impression the teacher had obtained something too new to be properly out or something maybe.)
Well, the internet immediately tried to recommend me Stephen Poliakoff's Shooting the Past (1999), which doesn't sound at all like it, but I like Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Spall.
It sounds interesting!
I saw it once double-featured with Derek Jarman's The Tempest (1979)! This was an inspiration on the part of the Brattle Theatre and also hilarious.
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*hugs* You should have one! Even if, yeah, reality does not seem likely to oblige.
Well, the internet immediately tried to recommend me Stephen Poliakoff's Shooting the Past (1999), which doesn't sound at all like it, but I like Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Spall.
No, it definitely isn't, but that sounds amazing! *adds it to list* I've been looking at the BBC Poliakoff collection for ages but I didn't know if I'd get on with him, but now I've seen and loved Glorious 39, I should see if it's still affordable, even if it doesn't include The Tribe. (The one BBC Poliakoff you can't get this side of the ocean for reasons that afaict have more to do with ridiculous tabloid excitement over Anna Friel's nude scene than anything else; it's v annoying as it's my most significant omission from Jeremy Northam's CV at the mo.)
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It does! I look forward to hearing your librarian's verdict on it.
I've been looking at the BBC Poliakoff collection for ages but I didn't know if I'd get on with him, but now I've seen and loved Glorious 39, I should see if it's still affordable, even if it doesn't include The Tribe. (The one BBC Poliakoff you can't get this side of the ocean for reasons that afaict have more to do with ridiculous tabloid excitement over Anna Friel's nude scene than anything else; it's v annoying as it's my most significant omission from Jeremy Northam's CV at the mo.)
I assume this partitioned version on YouTube will not play in your region? I can immediately see it's got a Jeremy Northam.
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I will let you know if I do!
Btw, googling has at least informed me that the style that I can't cope with is called Tableaux Vivant, which is a snappier way to complain about it when I need to. XD (Although not all Tableaux Vivant etc etc.)
I assume this partitioned version on YouTube will not play in your region? I can immediately see it's got a Jeremy Northam.
Oh, thanks! It still has Pt 5 missing in this region, but there's a lot more of it there and visible than I've seen on any previous searches. I think only a few bits of that were visible last time. (I'm protesting to the BBC by sulking silently until they osmose my need for a dvd. I should probably find out what it's called in German. They might have one. Or the Dutch or the Italians; that's usually the trick, but sometimes you do need to know the actual title in different languages to find it, which isn't always easy, especially with TV.)
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You're welcome! I'm sorry about Part 5! This upload should be the full film, although it makes you sign in for it.
(I'm protesting to the BBC by sulking silently until they osmose my need for a dvd. I should probably find out what it's called in German. They might have one. Or the Dutch or the Italians; that's usually the trick, but sometimes you do need to know the actual title in different languages to find it, which isn't always easy, especially with TV.)
Every time you mention this necesssity, it seems an extraordinary runaround to get hold of a television production in its own country, but good luck!
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Oh, thanks! <3 I have obviously not been searching for it lately. Or last time I did, I was still holding out for a DVD maybe. Oh, and, look, this one doesn't even have that YT commenter who seems dedicated to registering their anger over Jeremy Northam not doing full frontal nudity in this all over the site. (It cracks me up because if they were that exercised about it, there are other things they could have watched, ahem ahem, even if only very briefly and in a low light. The man takes off his clothes a lot. Me, I'm petitioning for more full period dress and a hat, preferably, to be worn at all times, but absolutely no fake hair. Maybe I should run round YT going BAD ACTOR, NO CLOTHES!! XD)
It is the week for random YT discoveries, because just before my family arrived, I chanced on a channel that had the 1955 BBC locked-in-the-archives-only Othello starring Gordon Heath here. It also features a wee James Maxwell as Roderigo, who will, I gather, courtesy of the BNA accidentally injure Patrick Wymark for real during the recording. This is the youngest I have ever seen him in action. He has a terrible fake beard, of course. (I poked around a bit further and it seems to have been originally posted 2 years ago by some sort of Preservation of Media channel, but I had just followed this one for having other old TV on it and thing I had never even dreamed of looking for just appeared!)
Every time you mention this necesssity, it seems an extraordinary runaround to get hold of a television production in its own country, but good luck!
It feels like something that would have a release somewhere!
The Dutch in particular are very helpfully fond of Brit TV. I'd never have even seen Shadow of the Tower without them! But I've had quite a few things from various countries when the UK hasn't done a release. R2 is much more divided by nation and language than R1, so it's not quite as weird as it sounds, but it can be frustrating to work out how to find if there is one, because of course, titles, are not always straightforward translations, and I have to double check it's the original English soundtrack and not dubbed over, but most things are.
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Through an advertisement for an intriguing-sounding restoration I can't get to see, I fell down a rabbit hole of reading about British avant-garde cinema and there are a number of films which make use of tableau and portraiture mentioned in this reference work. David Finch's Stone Steps (1992) sounded a little like what you were describing. Anne Rees-Mogg's Grandfather's Footsteps (1983) sounded too Victorian.
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It does look something like it, although at only 21 minutes, it definitely can't be. But I appreciate you keeping an eye out for me! You never know. It must exist! It probably fails to be quite like what I'm describing in some factor or other, no doubt, but I feel I would know it if I saw it.