Friday 14 December 2012

5 Films You Think More People Should Have Watched


So  Rohan Berry asked me and others to name five films, from 1970 onwards, that you believe more people should have watched. Doubtless I'll think of many more as soon as I hit "publish" on this post, but these were five that sprang to mind immediately. What would you add?



Shoot The Moon (Alan Parker, 1982) 

We talk about break-up albums, but not break-up movies so much. Sharply-observed, by turns funny and disturbing, with startling performances from Albert Finney and Diane Keaton as the couple falling apart, Shoot the Moon is one of the finest.






Limbo (John Sayles, 1999)

Sayles's gloriously confounding Limbo starts as an Alaska community portrait-cum-midlife romance morphs into survival thriller mode and ends in some extraordinary existential terrain all of its own. I vividly remember the gasps in the cinema at the final cut to black. (Bonus point: also includes one of the best-ever versions of Richard Thompson's "Dimming of the Day".)






Séraphine (Martin Provost, 2008)

Provost's biopic of the painter Séraphine de Senlis, endowed with oddity of genius by Yolande Moreau in a terrific, tough-minded performance that never once descends to sentimentalised caricature.





RAGE (Sally Potter, 2009)

Potter's innovative, mutlti-vocal meditation on the rag trade and a whole lot more besides. Also the only film (so far!) in which you get to see Judi Dench light a joint.






Le Refuge (Francois Ozon, 2009)

I wrote at length about Ozon's beautiful duet when it was released.


3 comments:

  1. I haven't seen any of your choices. Here's a quick list I compiled:

    3 Women (1977)
    The Son (Le Fils) (2002)
    Altered States (1980)
    Inferno (1980)
    Possession (1981)
    The Case of The Scorpion’s Tale (1971)

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  2. My five selections are:

    Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)
    Chuck and Buck (Miguel Arteta, 2000)
    Loggerheads (Tim Kirkman, 2005)
    Out of the Blue (Robert Sarkies, 2006)
    How to Survive a Plague (David France, 2012)

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  3. Thanks, guys! Chris: totally second 3 Women and The Son (and any other Dardennes...); need to see the rest. And Jason: YES to Beehive and the awesome Loggerheads. I must check out the others: I remember you mentioning Chuck and Buck before.

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