Sight & Sound 2012: See Me, Hear Me
Sight & Sound recently released its critics’ list of the greatest films of all time. This list only comes out once every 10 years and film geeks froth at the mouth. For some reason, I was not consulted. Other than the fact that I’ve never had a film review published in print or online, I cannot fathom this gross oversight. From the looks of the results, Sight & Sound/BFI and I are not on the same page anyway. None of my selections made the critics’ top ten (Bicycle Thieves, however, was ranked #10 on the directors’ list). Oh well, what’s that Groucho Marx line? “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.” Groucho? You know Groucho! From the Marx Brothers… there was also Chico and… the Man. No, the Marx Brothers… they made comedies. Ohhhh, comedies...
Anyway, here’s my top ten:
1) A Woman Under the Influence (1974) directed by: John Cassavettes The most powerful film I’ve ever seen. Its depictions of mental illness and the stresses of a wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, and above all a woman, are often uncomfortable to watch. Gena Rowlands delivers the best performance I’ve ever seen by an actress in a film. She gives everything to the role. This could have been one hell of a stage play, but the intensity necessary probably would have caused Rowlands to have a breakdown of her own. Peter Falk is amazing as Rowland’s husband in what’s probably his best performance as well. Cassavettes masterfully holds everything together even when it’s all falling apart. I’ve seen this film once.
2) The Passenger (1975) directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni This one takes its sweet time, yet patience is rewarded as you will easily fall under its hypnotic sway. Terrific camerawork by Luciano Tovoli, especially in the penultimate tracking shot and a brilliantly understated performance by Jack Nicholson help serve Antonioni’s unique artistic vision. A masterpiece.
3) Blue Velvet (1986) directed by: David Lynch Hauntingly beautiful and deeply disturbing, this film defies categorization and typical analysis. The sheer suspense of what’s going to happen to the goody two shoes turned perverted voyeur in the closet is enough to make your heart stop. Dennis Hopper brings pit bull intensity to his role as the scariest of film villains, and Isabella Rossellini bravely lays her character bare, emotionally and physically, before the camera. An amazing portrait of the darkness lurking behind All-American small town facades, it’s like Norman Rockwell painted by Jackson Pollock.
4) Annie Hall (1977) directed by: Woody Allen An incredible synthesis of comedy and drama, this film is, however, by no means a “dramedy”. It’s far too funny for such a label. Containing some of Allen’s funniest gags – an unfortunate sneeze, subtitles relating the two leads’ insecurities, a cameo by Marshall McLuhan to dismiss the ill-informed views of a pompous “expert” in a movie line – the laughs come quick and steady. At the same time, the incredible performance by Diane Keaton as a loveable flake searching for fulfillment, the vulnerability of Allen, and the magical editing of Ralph Rosenblum grant the film a grace which sticks with you after the final credits roll.
5) Dr. Strangelove (1964) directed by: Stanley Kubrick War is hell… a hell of a good time in Kubrick’s Strangelove. No film better shows the lunacy of nuclear weapons and the Cold War. It had to be a comedy. Whether the film is a true satire or simply the blackest of comedies is an issue up for debate. Regardless, the characters are caricatures with names that would make Jonathan Swift proud – General Jack D. Ripper, President Merkin Muffley, General Buck Turgidson, Dr. Strangelove himself. The names perfectly represent these oddballs with Ripper causing mayhem because of his insane views on “bodily fluids”, Muffley acting as an effeminate voice on the phone to his rival Soviet Premier Dmitri Kissof, Turgidson wanting to screw everything that moves, and Strangelove espousing ridiculous post-apocalypse mating scenarios. Plenty of hilarious one-liners are offered up, none better than “Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!”
6) Bicycle Thieves (1948) directed by: Vittoria De Sica This heartbreaking film depicts the desperation of a poor, proud man who needs to provide for his wife and young son. There is a thin line between bicycle owners and bicycle thieves in a post-war Italian society ravaged by poverty. The relationship between father and son is extraordinarily beautiful, and the simple direction has a brilliance all its own.
7) 3 Women (1977) directed by: Robert Altman One of the most hypnotic films I’ve ever seen. This is film as a dream. Shelley Duvall is so annoying, though, that sometimes you wish you could wake up. She actually brings annoyance to an art form and serves as the perfect counterpoint to Sissy Spacek’s naivety. Altman bundles these tremendous performances in a film that’s so surreal you feel it long after the final frame.
8) A Face In The Crowd (1957) directed by: Elia Kazan A variation of this 50’s masterpiece could be made today and the critics would praise it for its cutting edge analysis of fraudulent fame and the media’s sway over ordinary folk. Andy Griffith is mesmerizing as a con man turned king of all media with the power to influence buying habits and politics. As the film progresses, Griffith truly becomes the face of evil. This is a sharp contrast to his later family-friendly roles, but maybe the other side of the same coin.
9) The Producers (1968) directed by: Mel Brooks Downright hilarious and fearless, there may be more laughs (uncomfortable and otherwise) in this film than any other. The scenes between Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are comedy heaven, and their reactions to the insane supporting characters are brilliant. Who can forget L.S.D., an Andy Warhol-worshipping hippie who scores the role of Adolf, or Franz Liebkind, a former Nazi soldier and the playwright of Springtime for Hitler?
10) Some Like It Hot (1959) directed by: Billy Wilder Never has a film been so fun and beautifully composed at the same time. Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown are all terrific. I’ve run out of words to describe Wilder’s masterpiece. Well, nobody’s perfect.
